Unusual but true: surreal and wild-portraits creator
2019-03-22
In unusual but true stories this week, we have a surreal and wild-portraits creator, a spineless hedgehog recovering by massages, a performer transforming unusual items into musical instruments, a restaurant beneath waters opening in Norway, and creating realistic masks replicating your pets' faces.
All the odd and interesting anecdotes from around the world are here in our review.
Surreal and wild-portraits creator
This one-of-a-kind graphy performance project has seen an artist alter ego create a series of surreal and wild self-portraits - where everyday objects are stuck all over his face.
The absurd works of David Henry Nobody Jr. feature face attachments ranging from ice creams and toothbrushes to hamburger meat and even pictures of Donald Trump.
Not stopping with those additions, David Nobody - the creation of artist David Henry Brown Jr. - has even included peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and plastic toys in his face shots. To date, David estimates he has taken around 700 self-portraits in this style since starting the project in 2014.
Going forward, the artist plans to continue adding to the series, which he hopes will inspire people be creative and not become too great of a consumer of mainstream society.
David said: "I get a lot of positive responses – some negative."
"I think for a lot of people, we live in a more cookie cutter reality, and this work shows young people they don't have to follow that."
Spineless hedgehog recovers by massages
A hedgehog that lost his spines due to stress is now on the road to recovery - thanks to daily massages.
The hedgehog, affectionately named Bear, was brought into the Cuan Wildlife Rescue Centre in Much Wenlock, Shrops, this January by a concerned member of the public who at first didn't know what the spineless creature was.
Centre manager Fran Hill, normally looks after birds at the centre but took Bear into her care as a special case and discovered the tiny mammals spike-free look had also been caused by a mite infestation. But thanks to daily back rubs and aloe vera treatment, Bear's spines have now grown back and it is hoped the juvenile hedgehog will be returned to the wild this summer.
Hill, 52, said: "It's heartbreaking, it really is."
"We can only assume that he went into hibernation and had these ear mites which took hold. When hedgehogs get stressed they lose their spines."
Performer transforms unusual items into musical instruments
Meet the performer who transforms guns, boots, hockey sticks, suitcases, coat hangers and more into musical instruments.
Ken Butler, 70, from Brooklyn, New York, has made over 400 of the unusual creations repurposed from everyday and unusual items. While working as an artist he began to recognize the similarities between the shape of the human skeleton and that of a guitar. This would lead him to pick up a hatchet axe and put it under his chin in 1978, realizing that it could be transformed into a violin.
Restaurant beneath water opens in Norway
The world's largest underwater restaurant, which can seat up to 100 guests, opened on the coast of Baly, a small town on Norway's southernmost coastline, on March 21, 2019. A massive structure, resembling a sea creature, the restaurant will be the first underwater restaurant in Europe.
"We'll attract tourists from all over the world. That is our goal. I hope and believe that this will be the start of a new age for the travel industry," says Gaute Ubostad, one of the project heads.
The building was constructed over the course of six months on a barge near Baly. Last July, Snohetta, an international architecture and interior design firm based in Oslo, which created the restaurant, sank the building 16 feet underwater, securing it to the ocean floor. The firm is now working on the interior design details.
Realistic masks replicate pets' faces
Sculptors create creepily realistic masks to replicate the face of your pet for $2,700.
Masatoshi Asaumi, 31, from Shinagawa Ward in Tokyo, Japan, claims by wearing the lifelike headpiece called My Family you can learn to understand your pet better.
It takes a month for the team of Japanese craftsmen from Shindo Michika Planning Office LLC to create the purr-fect copy of your cats face. After submitting, the team creates a clay mould before casting the plastic mask, threading hair and painting it.