Haunting Taxidermy Doll Sculptures by Stefanie Vega Make The Perfect Halloween Post.

Dolls, in general, freak me out. As they do many people. So do clowns, birds, bones and taxidermy. Now, combine all of those and you have the haunting mixed media sculptures of Brooklyn born, now Venice, California-based artist Stefanie Vega.



Dark, detailed and finely crafted, the sculptures are perfectly suited for a Halloween post. Combining bird skulls, bones, talons and animal legs with porcelain doll heads, doll parts and glass eyes, the gothic, macabre sculptures are often in cages or bondage. Victorian wardrobe elements like leather corsets. petticoats, pocket watches, metal grommets and tophats add a little Steampunk edge to them as well.

Here's a look at some of her sculptures which range in price from $150 for the smallest to $2500+

The Task:




King Krow:




The Prisoner of Folly:


The Brat:



Murder Your Darlings:




The Manipulator:



The Dolly Beast:


La Santa De Las Aves:




Dorian Gray:



The Handless Maiden:


The Pin Slave:

"From the tales that left profound impressions in my earliest childhood memories, I began working not only with unwanted doll parts, but with skull & bones & birds. They spoke to me of wanting to tell the bigger story. The dolls we played with as children were the totems of our dreams. Upon them we laid our hopes & fears...upon them we projected our greatest selves.

I was serenaded by haunting lullabies from long ago. So, drawing on an enormous pool of archetypes & folklore & developing characters based on children's literature & faerie tales, a new hybrid was born. I began to write verse in order to share the tales that influenced the work. This rogue taxidermy with discarded porcelain doll parts and accompanying limerick became a cross-breeding of the unexpected & a departure from the familiar.

Like the resurrection of the forgotten they tell the tales from the soul of the world because they jar the collective memory we have of imagery & symbolism. This collection gives voice to an age old doll tradition that insists on singing its own song." -- Stefanie Vega

The Artist, Stefanie Vega:

images courtesy of Bash Contemporary and others from the artist.

Purchase or see more of her work at Bash Contemporary Gallery
You can also purchase directly from the artist here at her online shop.

Stefanie Vega

Big Rice Straw Beasts Sculpted For The Wara Straw Art Festival.

You may or may not have seen images of large sculpted straw beasts, recently being shared all over the internet. Truth be told, they are not new, but are actually a few years old (from 2010 and 2011) from the annual Wara Straw Art festival in Niigata. According to CNN Travel, The Wara Art Matsuri takes place every year in two locations in Niigata, at Kanko Shisetsu Iwamuroya (96-1 Iwamuro Onsen, Nishikan-ku, Niigata) and Uwasekigata park (1 Matsunoo, Nishikan-ku, Niigata).










The festival is an annual celebration of Autumn where local people and college students of Art and Architecture departments create some impressive straw art in Nishikan-ku, an area is said to have the "largest paddy fields in the country," according to Japan Style.













The art is created from rice straw by locals and college students. The structures are made from pipes and wood sticks, then the straw is added, taking about a week per piece to complete.

images are courtesy of Kotaku and CNN Travel

Lipstick Sculptures by Artist Maya Sum Will Leave Your Mouth Agape.

You may have seen some novelty shaped lipsticks such as the cute cat-shaped lipsticks by Paul and Joe and the Pipedream Products Lipstick Penises, but Hong Kong artist May Sum takes the concept of a sculpted and shaped lipstick a step further. 

Hand-sculpting individual lipsticks into stunning scenes as well as the likenesses of fashion designers, celebrities, objects and animals, her work in Asia is gaining much attention. But few here in the U.S. are aware of her work... yet.

Take a look at some of her "storytelling" lipstick sculptures:





And her Woman Power series which includes carvings of famous and powerful women in the arts, fashion and entertainment industries:









You may recognize some of the above lipsticks carved into the likenesses of fashion icons and celebrities:


Here's a few enlarged for you....
Anna Wintour:

Audrey Hepburn:

Coco Chanel:

Iris Apfel:

Kate Moss:

Lady Gaga:

Elizabeth Taylor (as Cleopatra):

Twiggy:

Vivienne Westwood:


In her etsy store, Wahahafactory, she now offers ther tailor-made lipstick sculptures. She provides you a choice of lipstick colors from five brands and then sculpts either an object (for $450) or a custom likeness (for $650).

Objects:

Custom:


It takes two weeks and can only be shipped Speedpost or DHL because of its fragility. Remember these are art pieces and are sensitive to climate and handling.



Artist May Sum:


images courtesy of the artist, May Sum, The Wahahafactory blog and website and her etsy store.

The Wahahafactory