Obituaries
RIP Pigcasso
The artist's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 08, 2024 -
Comments (2)
Category: Animals, Art, Obituaries, Africa, Natural Wonders
Toshi Ichiyanagi, RIP
The avant-garde composer was Yoko Ono's first husband, with, apparently, a similar flair for the experimental.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Oct 10, 2022 -
Comments (1)
Category: Music, Avant Garde, Obituaries, Asia, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults
Borivoj Dovniković, RIP
His Wikipedia page.See more of his oddball cartoons on YouTube.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Feb 09, 2022 -
Comments (0)
Category: Surrealism, Obituaries, Cartoons, Europe
Finding a needle in a haystack
ARTnews reports that the artist Sven Sachsalber recently died at the young age of 33. Sachsalber's most famous work, which Chuck posted about in 2014, was when he spent two days searching for, and eventually finding, a needle hidden in a haystack.
Some of Sachsalber's other works (or 'performances') included:
- Completing, with his father, a 13,200-piece puzzle of Michelangelo's Creation of Adam
- Eating a poisonous mushroom
- Spending 24 hours in a room with a cow
For whatever it's worth, Sachsalber wasn't the first person to try and find a needle in a haystack. Legendary publicist Jim Moran did the exact same stunt back in 1939.
Popular Science - July 1939
Note: despite what the caption says, Moran did find the needle.
He then sent it to the Smithsonian.
Posted By: Alex - Tue Dec 22, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Publicity Stunts, Homages, Pastiches, Tributes and Borrowings, Performance Art, Obituaries
Prahlad Jani, RIP
I believe that it was our revered founder Chuck Shepherd who first introduced me to the "breatharians," people who claim to get along fine without eating or drinking.Alas, one of the most famous just passed away.
His obit.
His Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Wed May 27, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Food, Human Marvels, Obituaries, India
RIP Leon Redbone (1949-2019)
A truly odd, enigmatic musician. As noted by his obit in the Independent:For a long time, almost no biographical info was known about him. Many suspected he wasn't even a real person. Perhaps someone such as Frank Zappa or Bob Dylan was posing as Redbone. But no, Redbone was real. He died on May 30.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jun 15, 2019 -
Comments (2)
Category: Music, Obituaries
RIP Carolee Schneeman
Her obit.Her Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Mar 08, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Art, Avant Garde, Performance Art, Pop Art, Body, Obituaries
Prince Leonard Casley, RIP
Full article here.
Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Thu Feb 14, 2019 -
Comments (0)
Category: Eccentrics, Curmudgeons and Contrarianism, Government, Unauthorized Dwellings, Outsider Art, Performance Art, Foreign Customs, Obituaries, 1970s
RIP Ricky Jay
I just saw the news that Ricky Jay died yesterday in LA of natural causes, age 72. He was best known as a magician and actor, but he was also a towering figure in the study of the odd, esoteric, and weird. His book Learned Pigs & Fireproof Women is an all-time classic of the genre. We've had it on permanent rotation in our sidebar list of recommended books for a while. It was first published in 1986, but I only discovered it in the early 1990s, when I was at grad school. I thought it was amazing. One of my favorite books ever. And I've been a huge fan of his ever since. He'll be missed!
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 25, 2018 -
Comments (1)
Category: Books, Obituaries
Joe Bailon, RIP
The inventor of "candy apple red."
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 29, 2017 -
Comments (1)
Category: Motor Vehicles, Pop Art, Obituaries
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |