midnight at the mutter museum ii. / give a way news!!!

this halloween marks the first anniversary of my wedding to my love. we were very lucky to be married at the mutter museum last year on halloween AND the day of the dead, surrounded by the best of friends and the most amazing family. we were even luckier to have such a talented photographer, marie labbancz, that "got" our aesthetic and never judged our ideas. we had shots taken at the laurel hill cemetery, the rodin museum & the mutter museum. we were even featured in philadelphia wedding magazine!

as a last minute gift to ourselves, we booked a mini vacation to san francisco, where we'll be spending halloween. due to this, i'm postponing the revealing of the winner of the self portrait contest, so if you were thinking about entering, you have a few extra days!

the contest will close now on monday night, november 2. some of you have been sending handmade self-portraits, which has been really great & of course will be accepted. send entries to me at jlschnabel@gmail.com. also, you can just leave a comment to this post; just leave a word or two about what you think identity means or an influence you feel something has made on yours, which is something i've been doing all week on here!

& happy halloween!!!!!!!

x

* please please don't use any of these photos*

repels/fascinates iv. abandoned mental asylums/ pilgrim state

"let conversation cease. let laughter flee. this is the place where death delights to help the living"

mental illness is a human condition that i have both romanticized & have been marred by, so my feelings on the issue are highly complex and contradictory. mental asylums, particularly abandoned ones are creepy & fascinating, and seem to bare the essence of the sorrow of its former inhabitants . although i'm sure i could have posted about many other facilities, it is pilgrim state psychiatric center that has haunted me since childhood, being that it exists, in all its decadent splendor, in my home town in long island. opened in 1941, it still, even in its abandoned state, holds the title of being the largest mental institution in the world. it's peak occupancy exceeded 16,000 at one time. although a small percentage of it is still in use, most of it is left empty and ominous. abandoned/haunted architecture is something i obsess over & i feel a closeness to particular buildings, such as the divine lorraine hotel here in philly that i drive by every day on my way to the gallery.

photos via.

x

repels/fascinates iii. taxidermy.

polly morgan.

i'm incredibly repelled and intoxicated by taxidermy. i even feel this way about all the bones i handle when making my jewelry. i have no moral qualms about it, i just get seriously creeped out by it sometimes. (in particular, there is a wild boar head at the restaurant where i work and i stare at it constantly) mostly i think what gets me is the 'head on a mantle' aspect of it. the animal seems desperately out of place & i can't help but look into its glass eyes and wonder what it's last moments were like. however, when taxidermy is done poetically/in the surrealist vein, like by the above uk artist polly morgan, i find beauty in the tragedy of it & am hypnotized.

xo

repels/fascinates ii. conjoined twins.

if you've been a long reader of this blog, it shouldn't surprise you that one of my most favorite obsessions is conjoined twins. i use the image of them a lot in my written and visual work, as it makes for an interesting metaphor, rich with hidden meanings. however, the image of them has been something that has fascinated me forever. medical abnormalities in general do this to me, i was even married at the mutter museum last year! to be marred by a difference, to be set against the current of "normal" yet to find ones own normalcy and self within the body of two people is something that interests me to no end.

for some more interesting reading on this subject, please check outauthor alice domuart dreger's book: one of us: conjoined twins and the future of normal.

repels/fascinates i. nuns.

shawn barber

denise courtilliot

catholic imagery has always repelled and fascinated me. when something does this, i'm obsessed forever. there's something about nuns in general that reminds me of madness, that devoutness to the unknown seems something so unreachable to me. i'll be posting other things this week, leading up to halloween and the lifting of the veil, that repels/ fascinates me.

x

guest post at nothing elegant

i was recently asked to write a guest post on the lovely tara's fantastic blog, nothing elegant, which is often filled with amazing literary, art and fashion inspirations. i decided to write about a few of my favorite horror films and my favorite unusual leading ladies, christina ricci & winona ryder. please take a peek!

x

ps: i've been getting some of your amazing self portraits! they are lovely! enter my halloween give a way here!

eric fortune.

i've been digging eric fortune's dreamy, raven haired ladies for awhile. the work has a softness to it, a quietness that i really feel drawn too. they remind me, in the best way possible, of james jean. if you're so inclined to read it, he has a write up in the spectacular looking new hi-fructose.

matthew kucynski does the apocalypse

i've had a postcard from local philly artist matthew kucynski's show 'you're apocalypse!' floating around my studio since last year. it recently made it's way above the wreckage & I had the same lovely reaction to it as I did when I first laid eyes on it. his work touches on a few of the things i like best; strange women, the apocalypse, and the hint of speaking to the dead.

x

self-portrait/ blood milk give a way!

hi. i've been thinking long & hard about what to do for my next giveaway. the last one was very emotion rousing, as all your comments were really heartfelt & surprised me in their sincere interest in my work.

since october is my favorite month! & halloween my favorite holiday (even more so since it now marks the union of my love & i!), i want to offer another opportunity for winning a piece of custom blood milk. the winner & i will speak about their interests & beliefs & i will make a custom piece just for them!

all you have to do is take a self portrait. i've been thinking a lot about identity as i prepare for my upcoming show at omoi in december. i'm not sure where i will go with it, but i thought it would be fun to see some of you! the photos will be posted on this site at the close of the contest. 

to enter:

send in a photo of yourself to jlschnabel@gmail.com

 i'd prefer it to be a self-portrait, but its up to you!

i like to use the old time photo generator i posted about here, but again, it's your choice.

if you're uncomfortable with sending in a photo of yourself, you can also write a comment on this post about identity, anything about what you believe yours to be & what may have influenced the shaping of it.

the deadline is the night before halloween! october 30. i'll randomly pick the winner on halloween & i'll post the results the following week!

x 

brendan monroe does sweden

relocating is hard to do, especially when going from anywhere in america to europe. however, for me anyway, there is a quietness to living abroad, a space where you can grow new ideas & thoughts. recently, terrific CA artist brendan monroe moved across the globe to stockholm to be with his wife, evah fan, while she starts grad school. his new exhibition, places between here and here, might certainly touch on the resulting feelings of his move & will be opening this october 17 at richard heller gallery in santa monica. i really look forward to viewing his new work but i'm really into the above past works. they remind me of blood and the quiet tenderness we have with ourselves.

x

 

ali miller does home sweet home

i'm really digging these collages by british artist ali miller from her most recent show, 'home sweet home', based on the ideas of home & memory & how objects can trigger reflection through these memories, the work is subtle in color & packed full of interesting details. her entire catalogue of work is thrilling, including her a body of work called 'brave solider, black butterfly', dedicated to her father.

x

paul romano : workhardened opening photos

if you're so inclined take a peek over at the toothless cat blog to see some photos from paul romano's solo show this past saturday.

x

maissa toulet does cabinets of curiosities

i've just been hypnotized by the amazing surrealist cabinets of curiosities by french artist maissa toulet. they fill every visual/emotional need i have when viewing art, creating a sort of swelling in my chest, like an ocean. i'm sure these will be potent inspirations to the many new projects that will be under way after this filled weekend closes. i'll also be having a halloweenie give a way soon!

via.

xx

charlie immer does the beautiful gross

i've been meaning to post about charlie immer ever since i read about him in a previous issue of hi-fructose. his paintings have a touch of childhood nostalgia in their shapes & colors, which is bodly contradicted with bloody, horrific scenes of characters ripping each other apart. of course, i'm in love.

fantasy fashion.

spiderweb cuff.

alexander mcqueen shoes.

&&&

optical lens lariat. a new piece of bloodmilk. soon i'll get my act together & update my shop.

alex cf does supernatural hunts

edward harrell collection

vampyr hunting case

death's coffer

i love october. & halloween! although i admit i'm inspired by the macabre & supernatural on a daily basis, it's exciting to celebrate it for a whole month. which brings me to these lovely expedition / specimen cases by artist alex cf. meticously assembled, they remind me of things lifted from victorian novels; objects from my favorite dreams. they are many more on his website as well as multiple views of each case / specimen.

scott campbell does washington

speaking of unusual materials, tattoo artist scott campbell's newest work is comprised of intricate, laser cut layers of dollar bills to create stunning compositions. besides the obvious symbolic references, they are truly beautiful.

via. x/x

miss van does the sad clown/priestess

although i will forever & ever love the increasingly dark miss van, i have mixed feelings on her new show, lovestain @ stolen space, i think due to that it is part retrospective & part new work. my favorites pieces are the ones executed on unusual surfaces (such as the top leather piece & coffin shape). They even were a few surprising pieces where miss van painted over existing photographs. take a peek for yourself & let me know your thoughts!

x/x

kalynovych

the work of kalynovych reminds me of many things: surrealist collage, remedios varo, & perhaps more potently, the impending threat of winter. it's been getting colder & colder here & while i think i love the fall, i truly fear the winter. i was in awe of each work by this russian artist, & could have posted every single one.

x/x