T h e C a b i n e t o f C u r i o s i t i e s

The C a bin et of Curios ities

C u r    C u r i o     C u r i o u s   C u r i o s i t y

A c c o r d i n g  to  Wikipedia  and  friends

"A cab i net of curio s ities      was an encyclopaedic collection in R e n a i s s a n c e   Europe

 of

 types of objects whose categorial boundaries were yet to be defined.

They were also known by various names such as Cab inet of Wonder, 

 and in German
 Kunstkammer ("art-room") or
Wunderkammer ("wonder-room").  

 Modern terminology would categorize the objects included as belonging to N A T U R A L   H i s t o r y - and    r a t h e r    d e l i ciously (sometimes faked), also known as J ennyes 

Paul Biddles' Cabinet of Wonder

 

E N T E R   The  L o a f  of   B r e a d   F r u i t  complete with feathers dog biscuits and replete with Bishops Tu Tu

"The Kunstkammer was regarded as a microcosm or theater of the world,
 and a memory theater.  This I yam very interested by
The term cabinet originally described a room rather than a piece of furniture

The Kunstkammer  provided a solace and retreat for contem plation or a collection, with a special emphasis on paintings of people with interesting deformities - enter The Queen of Nipples in Paul Biddles Cabinet and also Quentin Massys Queen of Tunis or Naples - not to forget Leonardo’s earlier drawing of a Grotesque   - all t h r e e appear to be wearing what I can only describe as a    Bull et Brass iere

The Queen of Nipples

You can see Leonardo's wonderful drawing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Grotesque_Head.jpg 

 

wondrously small clock work automata - such as the Do Do you see before your very eyes   ethnographic specimens of delight   strangely reminiscent of tinned fruit on Sunday Afternoons
"antlers,  horns, claws,    feathers and other unmentionable things belonging to

 strange and curious animals"

The Mermaid of Prague

You can    see    more

of the new series  C a b i n e t   o f   C u r i o s i t i e s

https://paulbiddle.com

Showcase of the Fine Art Photography of Paul Biddle

Most years I get a few photography students getting in touch and asking if they can do a critique or presentation of my work as part of their college course.

I received an email from Debra Curran who is a photography student currently studying The History of Photography. One of the course requirements is to create a showcase about the work of a contemporary photographer, and fortunately for me she chose to use my work.

She sent me several questions about my images and I answered them by email.

There have been some great presentations over the years but Debra’s showcase stands head and shoulders over the rest.

You can even make your own comments on the images.

Thanks for the great presentation, Debra. It made me feel like a proper photographer.

Please click on the link and have a look at what she has created.

You can click on an image or text to zoom and see more detail. 

http://voicethread.com/share/3033905/ 

The Dilemma of Florists

The Dilemma of Florists, Flowers and General Shrubbery OBE

Imagine my surprise when I opened the door to my studio today and the following words issued forth as Word Clouds    Cumulus Conundrums

Imagine My Surprise

Angiosperms, Reproductive Organ Grinding, Gymnosperms, and other seed-producing plants, Parthenocarpy, and vegetative means, 

Angiosperms Having Fun

 

I immediately turned to Aunty Wikipedia, the font of all knowledge, for some comforting advice :

Aunty Wiki's Book of Tulips

“A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Magnoliophyta, also called angiosperms). The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs. . Flowers give rise to fruit and seeds. 

Mr Mark The Pollinator General

Many flowers have evolved to be attractive to animals, so as to cause them to be vectors for the transfer of pollen.”

The Lobster that mistook herself for a Florist

My initial response was to Blush and Blame

Tick Tock

Seeds doing what they do Best

The Florists of Desire must be responsible for this outrageous trafikking  in 

petals, sepals   Stigmatas and stamens and a few of my favourite things

Floristry is the general term used to describe production, commerce and trade in flowers. It encompasses flower care and handling, floral design or flower arranging and     unspeakable things with Bouquets

What exactly is the  transfer of pollen  ?

Fig 272.   Insert The Butterfly Boys

The Transfer of Pollen

Editors' Note :

Apologies to the Gymnosperms, and other seed-producing Potentates.

Any reference to Floristry and my friend Madame Lobster is purely Fic  titious 

https://paulbiddle.com

Happy Polaroid Accidents

Quite a few years and possibly many of your Moons ago, this image White Tulips

 won the Polaroid European Final Art Awards - colour print section

White Tulips

I should own up and say, I won it by default 

How it happened - I shot the image on 4”x 5” Polaroid Type 55 film

and to be honest I didn’t rate the image at all and filed it under

 Failures / sub-section - Never to be seen again.

Then I forgot about it.

Luckily an unprocessed Polaroid from the shoot fell down behind a bench in my incredibly damp 

darkroom.

When I say incredibly damp - think Troglodyte existence,

imagine mould spores mutating and meandering up the walls

Geologically, my darkroom provided a tunnel or escape route directly to Hades

Cathedral-like vaults full of stalactites and stalagmites, majestic curtains and surreal rock formations, and even a resident Hermit

In short a damp and smelly darkroom

The Polaroid festered there for a few years

from the Cretaceous Period to the Carboniferous

And then on one of those rare ‘Let’s clean the Darkroom’ days

I found the unprocessed Polaroid deep down in Hades growing and mutating some

unspeakable things

I gingerly picked it up and carried it out to the Light

and promptly forgot about it again

Then I processed it and low and behold the damp of ages had performed a miracle

it had degraded the image and added some interesting blemishes and Serious Stains

I found  myself in a      (position of Quite Liking it)

I scanned the negative, tinted it, made a print and sent it poste haste to Polaroid
and they liked it too.

I do miss Polaroid

https://paulbiddle.com

 

The Vain Pomegranate

The Vain   Pom e gran ate

from the Series : The Paranoia  of F ruit and Veg e tables

Have you ever noticed how a Pomegranate given the opportunity will stare for hours and hours at it’s own reflection ?

 No   Nor nor nor   had I until yes ter day     when

I happened upon this very scene in a dark and dusty corner of my studio

It was the sound of lemons being peeled by the ever industrious Mr and Mrs Wasp

that first aroused my attention 

detail of The Vain Pomegranate

 I crept   closer  so as not  to disturb

and there before me was a  scene stolen  from the 17th Century

redolent with the scent of   ancient chalk dust   and   wasp wings

I just had  to take a snap  and here it is

The Vain Pomegranate

 
And there she was Lady PushPeter  of the Pom e granates

Preening

Perched on a    column of platitude

admiring  herself  and  her rather coquettish feather

Does  a  Pomegranate    Preen   ?

Please write     your answer on a wasp wing of your choice

whisper to the wasp

and    point it    in my direction

The wasp that makes me laugh the most   will receive  a   free wasp sized print of

The Vain Pomegranate  with no   Stings     attached

Granada   Granada      Granada



Editors Note : Any reference to   Bleeding Hearts , Ratatoiulle or Frederick                       The Great Elector

of      Brandenburg Prussia    are   purely   coinci dental

rather like      Flossing   in the Wind


                     You can see more of Paul Biddle's work at

                  https://paulbiddle.com

The Vain Pomegranate

The Vain   Pom e gran ate

from the Series : The Paranoia  of F ruit and Veg e tables

Have you ever noticed how a Pomegranate given the opportunity will stare for hours and hours at it’s own reflection ?

 No   Nor nor nor   had I until yes ter day     when

I happened upon this very scene in a dark and dusty corner of my studio

It was the sound of lemons being peeled by the ever industrious Mr and Mrs Wasp

that first aroused my attention 

detail of The Vain Pomegranate

 I crept   closer  so as not  to disturb

and there before me was a  scene stolen  from the 17th Century

redolent with the scent of   ancient chalk dust   and   wasp wings

I just had  to take a snap  and here it is

The Vain Pomegranate

 
And there she was Lady PushPeter  of the Pom e granates

Preening

Perched on a    column of platitude

admiring  herself  and  her rather coquettish feather

Does  a  Pomegranate    Preen   ?

Please write     your answer on a wasp wing of your choice

whisper to the wasp

and    point it    in my direction

The wasp that makes me laugh the most   will receive  a   free wasp sized print of

The Vain Pomegranate  with no   Stings     attached

Granada   Granada      Granada



Editors Note : Any reference to   Bleeding Hearts , Ratatoiulle or Frederick                       The Great Elector

of      Brandenburg Prussia    are   purely   coinci dental

rather like      Flossing   in the Wind


                     You can see more of Paul Biddle's work at

                  https://paulbiddle.com

Do Red Dots Help Sell Pictures?

I received an email
                              recently from The Self-Styled  Mr Smith

You    remember    the chap I am sure,   He of  Snail Sex fame who appeared in this very     blog

This is what he said

"I have been to a few print exhibitions in my time. I expect you have too.  Has it ever struck you, as it did me the other day, how popular the prints are that have a small red dot on them?
They always seem to be the ones that sell.
Looking through your website I couldn't see that you had included any little red dots.  There maybe an artistic reason for this that I, perhaps, would not appreciate, but I thought I would raise the matter with the idea that you may, in future consider including the odd little red dot in one of the bottom corners of a few of your offerings, to see if it helps to sell the prints for you.
Please don't take this amiss.  I would hate you to think that I want to interfere in the creative process, or any other of your processes."

With kind regards,
S.S. Mr. S.

This is Food   For   thought   or   is there   considerably less to this than meets the eye?

So   I have decided    to take    Mr    Smith's   good   advice 

to see if it    works

Here   are a few   of My    images with added      majikal red    dots

Let us see if the red spots   before   our   very    eyes    improve    sales

British Food

Nose Island

Madame Naughty Nips

Mr Mark Featherhead

Jug Woman 1 (after Picasso)

Now      here is the    rub

It's    come    to my notice     whilst     writing    this post

that two of my most popular    images   have the said red dots built in

so to speak

Master Jack and the Haws

               
             and

Crow Red Berry

So   now     I am  thinking  perhaps there is considerably more than meets the eye

to    Mr Smith's     idea       than I  first    thought . . .

As a post script    to the postscript    I would like to show Mr Smith's   Very Own

offering     his digital work     entitled        SOLD

SOLD by Mr Smith

Editors Note 

Mr S mith would like

me   to communicate   the fact

that his work  SOLD 

is

in fact For Sale

Please see his comment on this post

https://paulbiddle.com