Morning Gret

I woke thinking Cabinet of Curiosities
and remembered I had an excellent dvd of a
60 min documentary. In terms of books
I have the big Taschen book on the subject
(and I mean really big - see attached)

I came down to Instagram and found the Curator
of Pallant House had posted on the subject
(see attached)

so some cosmic tumblers are being brought to bear
on an aspect of our speculations. I have an excellent
study of how they came into being (Ashmolean)
and indeed the whopping Taschen facsimile of Seba
https://www.fulltable.com/VTS/s/sg/shells/a.htm

Next time we meet I’ll make a display for you
because it does seem one possible solution to
taking classification further

Love

C

xx

simonmartin_art A WUNDERKAMMER: glowing light yesterday evening on my Cabinet of Curiosities. I love Baroque collectors’ cabinets for their surreal and esoteric flights of fancy: rooted in magic, idiosyncrasy and artistic expression. Mine is inspired by paintings of 18th century cabinets and specimens in the Olbricht collection in Berlin. Nature on the bottom level (shells, gemstones, fossils and plant forms), second shelf: magic and man’s endeavour (flint axe heads found in fields, a cast of a Gaudier-Brzeska toy, a crystal ball, carved crocodiles, miniature pots by @yutasegawa_ceramics , a Tibetan scroll holder); third shelf: images of man: (a bocca della verita, a Hopi doll, an Eduardo Paollozzi, a Head by @cathiepilkington , Michelangelo’s David, Gandhi carved in sandalwood); fourth shelf: religious faith (a Shiva Nataraja, the Turd of St Agatha, scrimshaw, a Crucifix and a pseudo Baroque Navitulus shell holder). It brings together those cheap tourist trinkets that held meaning and fascination for me on my travels as a younger self, with high art, my collections of hagstones (inspired by Derek Jarman) and Greek Orthodox icons (thanks to @74lc). It’s a free-wheeling Freudian, Jungian hot mess, fortunately all the collage of magical forces contained and constrained when the door is closed. #wunderkammer #cabinetofcuriosities #curiosity #magic #tribalart #collecting#interior #historichouse #baroque #nautilus #shells #fossils #masks #sculpture