The Shape of Snails

“the conceptual world of pre-eighteenth-century zoology must
have accorded little importance to the orientation of a
shell”. We will refer to this as the ‘Gould hypothesis’.

-from: From a ‘domestic commodity’ to a ‘secret of trade’: snails and shells of land molluscs in early
(mainly 16th and 17th century) visual arts 

"chirality" is the direction in which the snail shell is oriented

Saints, Demons, Death, and the Devil for Metal Dudes, Part I

This post is dedicated to a friend who has been scrupulously studying the works of Albrecht Dürer to make a film for his compositions. I am lucky enough to be a sounding board for the script and process, which has been wildly inspiring.

First are some images by Dürer.

Knight, Death, and the Devil, 1513

Melancholia I, 1514

St. Jerome in his Study, 1514

These will be the main parts of the film, featuring the characters in various ways, often indirect, as well as common themes such as the hourglass. 

One of his earlier prints is also of note, since he had nearly perfected his ideas of proportion and plays with the idea of the humors. And who doesn't love that goat in the top right corner?

Adam and Eve, 1504

I should also note that there are some great bits about Dürer in THIS BOOK

Recently, this also led me to look further into the creative stylings in depictions of St. Anthony. He was tempted by demons, and since demons don't have a single face or type, it was an invitation for artists to be as inventive as possible. My favorite:

Martin Schöngauer, Temptation of St. Anthony, 1470s

The style here is amazing, and the creativity even more so.

And St. Anthony was also the namesake of an illness ("St. Anthony's Fire") now known as ergotism. Because of this, he was featured in a brilliant altarpiece by Matthias Grünewald:

Isenheim Altarpiece, 1512-1516

It depicts a Jesus covered in lacerations, skin affected similarly to those with the disease.

In the left-hand corner on the internal wing, St. Anthony is again tortured by demons.

HERE you can see the how the altarpiece opens.

In another altarpiece in Aachen, I found this little guy being very proud of doing his job next to St. Anthony.

And HERE is a funny rant on depictions of St. Anthony. 

More to come later!

POOPING DUCK

From a blog post HERE

Thin Nimbus

Cool stuff HERE

X-Ray Vision

Unfortunately, I was too busy in the real world to properly celebrate Dia de los Muertos in cyberland.
Here is some pretty heavy evidence proving the major awesomeness of skeletons:




The Killers - Bones

The Raconteurs - Salute Your Solution

Kaiser Chiefs - Every Day I Love You Less and Less

BONES intro
Music by The Chemical Brothers

HOUSE intro
Music by Massive Attack

A Sample of Haeckeliana

From Ernst Haeckel's Kunstformen der Natur.

Best known for teaching the modern world a lesson about taking personal style a little too far when illustrating comparative embryology - and in turn giving anti-evolutionists a tiny bit of so-called forgery to add to their arsenal.

But he also brought a unique sense of fantasy to the world of sponges, fungi, and anemone, among other things.