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Artist Creates Fantasy Sculptures By Repurposing Dead Insects

in Art 105 views

An artistic form of recycling has an artist in Belgium creating exceptionally unique sculptures from the bits, bones, and barbs of insects.

Joos Habraken creates these insectoid sculptures, measuring from 8 to 15 centimeters tall, out of between 30 and 100 pieces of dead insects.

Each sculpture can contain parts from up to 30 individual insect species including beetles, grasshoppers, mantises, and butterflies.

Joos harvests the bug body parts from insects he finds on walks or purchases them from wholesalers.

“I feel like I’m creating a new species with a new life and story,” Joos says. “I start with an archetype like father, mother, witch, or benevolent king. These are things that people know, without them knowing they recognize them.”

Then Joos takes apart the bugs, modifies the pieces he wants to use, and mounts them on a stick before gluing them together.

“The hardest part is getting the details right because you’re using 30 different bugs, so you don’t know if the head will fit the body,” said the 28-year-old rock climbing instructor from Ghent, Belgium.

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Muralist turns fairgrounds into his canvas

in Art 490 views

Two weeks are in the books at the Great New York State Fair, but with a long weekend ahead of us, there are still lots of gems to see.

Today we’re taking a look inside the Expo Center. It is a great place to check out some live art. Arcy is a spray paint artist, and he’s nearing the end of a mural. It’s hard to miss.

“Well I’m doing what I love to do and I’m inspiring people to do that, too,” said Arcy. “You don’t have to go into  the arts to do what you love to do, just see that I’m happy and I’m creating and I am spreading good energy and I think that’s the most important thing that we can do.”

At about 180 feet long and 8 feet tall, he calls the mural small because it’s a tight fit for working with spray paint. His lines only shrink down to about half an inch wide.

Continue Reading on SPECTRUM NEWS 1

The Case of the Bronze Girl and the Secret Garden

in People 357 views

We recently received a claim for an unmarked and unsigned bronze sculpture of a girl holding a birdbath. This sculpture was the central point of a fountain located in a formal garden on a grand drive leading to the insureds’ stately home. The insureds were claiming a value of $17,000, with an original purchase price of $10,000. No documentation was provided. The insureds remember that the work was purchased 25 years ago in New York at the recommendation of their interior designer, but they did not remember where. They believed this to be an original work of art. The photographs submitted to us for valuation showed the sculpture after it was knocked over in a windstorm.

Cracking the Case

Without an artist’s name or background information, we began our research by identifying key characteristics of the sculpture, then searching for those characteristics in sculptures described in public collections and galleries. Nestled in the heart of Central Park’s only formal garden, the Conservatory Garden, and standing at the end of a small waterlily pool, we found a sculpture of a girl wearing diaphanous clothing, one leg bent and holding a bowl, which serves as a bath for the birds who gather. The girl gently twists to look down and over her right shoulder, while the young boy rests at her feet playing the flute. This is the memorial fountain for Frances Hodgson Burnett, as created by artist Bessie Potter Vonnoh (1872–1955). It depicts Mary and Dickon, the protagonists of Hodgson Burnett’s book, The Secret Garden. The sculpture was a match.

Continue Reading on Claims Journal

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