3D Art Gems

[Dee]

Last weekend we went to this somewhat surreal place, especially as you enter the building:





http://www.theguntonarms.co.uk




It's a pub/inn owned by an art collector, set in a deer park, with sculptures in the garden, apparently great food (but we only had drinks) and the walls covered in an eclectic range of mostly modern art, some by prominent contemporary artists such as Tracey Emin (neon lit messages) and Damien Hirst (a spotty picture in the ladies' loos).

Spoiler:

The rooms are cosy, each has its own distinct atmosphere.




The art is totally in your face and some of it is definitely eyebrow raising at the least.

How about eating your dinner next to a set of paintings depicting ladies vomiting in a toilet?
A pretty design of leaves that on closer inspection turns out to be small pictures of details of female genitalia? Copulating dinosaurs, anyone? Naked woman suspended by a rope?

Spoiler:

It's hard to describe really, a lot of it is bizarre in its segments yet somehow put together the place works. The atmosphere is warm, it fully owns itself, and there is a gentle humour lacing over even the most ostentatious displays.

What I liked most was in the garden, a group of sculptures playing with the juxtaposition of animals and the female form. It was quite lovely to see them in the fading autumn evening light.

I'm afraid, even after extensive research, I have yet not been able to find out who has made them, but I'm on it.

Anyways, here they are, see what you make of them?

[Dee]

[Moonchime]

They're rather sweet aren't they? I was trying to work them all out from the first pic so it was a great relief to look at the other one!!
I imagine they did look rather lovely in the fading autumn light although the one with the droopy boobs at the back looks rather sad.
What an amazing place - I'm still not sure what I'd make of it although you seem convinced it all came together so maybe I'll put it on my "to visit" list. I liked the picture of the spots in the toilet but wasn't so sure about the naked woman suspended from a rope! It looked as though it might be humorous though as opposed to offensive so perhaps it wouldn't put me off my food!

[Dee]

An eclectic collection and one purposefully designed to push boundaries for sure. It's mostly fun though, after you relax into it!

It is definitely worth a visit.

[Dee]

Salisbury Cathedral

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-w ... e-44071442

[Moonchime]

That is so beautiful - I just love it.
My nephew works near outside Salisbury so I'll tell him to go check it out. If I could find a window of time before Christmas I'd check it out myself!!
Lovely idea.

[Dee]

It is a wonderful idea and so beautifully executed.

It also looks stunning from the spot that allows the mirror table to get into play.

[NurseRatched]

Breathtaking. Thank you for sharing!

[Dee]

Recluse Dies, Leaves Behind Hundreds of Secret Sculptures in Finland

Veijo Rönkkönen was considered to be a recluse. He worked for 41 years at a paper mill and barely went anywhere throughout his life except to work and back home to his farm. He was never trained as an artist, but when he died in 2010, he left behind what is basically an outdoor museum.

The forest surrounding his home is packed with sculptures of human figures of all ages and cultures portraying every type of emotion you can imagine.

Born in 1944, Rönkkönen began his career at the mill at the tender age of 16. Local legend says that he used his first-ever paycheck to buy apple seeds and a bag of concrete and so began his sculpture garden, which he nurtured tirelessly for half a century.

Now known as the Veijo Rönkkönen Sculpture Garden, the site attracts around 25,000 people each year. Visitors are drawn in not only by the art, but by the atmosphere of the woods themselves, haunted by the community of figures that Rönkkönen’s own hands so thoughtfully moulded.

The artwork is seen by many people as a bit eerie. Some have mouths full of real human teeth, which seem to grin at passersby. Others have speakers inside, which mutter incomprehensible sounds.

Spoiler:

There is even an area that is home to 255 near-naked figures practising yoga. Yoga is actually one of Rönkkönen’s only hobbies that we know about, apart, of course, from making art.

Rönkkönen is more than an installation or a sculpture park; it’s a community, and although some of the artwork is disturbing, the forest is unquestionably quite magical, an amalgamation of many different worlds coming together all in one place. This feels especially meaningful considering that it’s an outside world the artist never quite experienced in real life.

https://theculturetrip.com/europe/finla ... AlYAMoIM_A

[Dee]

[Dee]

If you're already thinking these are kinda creepy... you ain't seen nothing yet!

[Dee]