Monday 22 November 2010

Sprinkle dance, Len Shelley and the Surveillance State...











Okay American readers - this is (sort of) about cricket but bear with me. Hostilities resume in the greatest sporting show on Earth - The Ashes - on Thursday and the rabbit cannot wait. England have not won in Australia since 1986/7 but start as slight favourites. All is well in the England camp as can be seen from the above video diary by Graeme Swann who - as well as being the best spin bowler in the world - is a natural comedian. At about 8 minutes into the clip, the team introduce an unsuspecting world to the sprinkle dance. Take a look! Amusingly and amazingly, the sprinkle dance has wound the Australian media up - they are complaining that the insolent Poms are practising their victory dance before - erm - winning. Nice to see the Australian media in such a febrile state of mind.


I must confess to never having heard of artist Len Shelley in life but only discovered him through obituaries following his recent death. A number of his best-known works were three dimensional 'art in a box' as above - the splendidly titled Father Built Me a House But Decided to Live in it Himself.


Not to mention the even more wonderfully titled I Saw Grandfather Hoarding Tripe.



Or Leather Things Flap Their Wings at my Window. Of course they do.


And finally - erm - Henry's Parents... I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself.


Finally, while on the same - ahem - subject and without further comment, Mahal has drawn the rabbit's attention to an
inevitable consequence of the surveillance state.

11 comments:

That Hank said...

Okay, I'm looking Len Shelley up. Those are great.

Catch Her in the Wry said...

This is our day of admiring unusual art. My post was about tiny graphite pencil sculptures.

I wonder who inherited grandfather's tripe collection after his death.

sybil law said...

Love the Len Shelley stuff!

No wonder my friend now live in Northampton goes on about cricket - and not in a good way. :)

The masturbatory link (I presume) isn't working for me! :(

sybil law said...

My friend who now lives in Northampton - geez... sorry about the terrible sentence!

white rabbit said...

Hank - Quality or what?

Catchy - Indeed. There is much to be said for a stock of old tripe, I often remark.

Sybil - I just checked the link. It seems okay but here it is anyway...

http://www.dailysquib.co.uk/?c=124&a=2389

And as for your friend in Northampton...

;)

Sarcastic Bastard said...

I love the artwork.

JoJo said...

Wow, that art looks like Hieronymous Bosch shoebox dioramas. Very bizarre.

Anonymous said...

I would have those in my house; they are very Eraserhead.

Institutional dehumanisation and indignity will only inflame anti-government movements like the Tea Party, which will ironically lead to even more oppressive forms of government.

This security paranoia stuff is a massive industrial-political lobbying-complex in its own right now.

Daisy Deadhead said...

Fantastic art! Never heard of Len Shelley either, but those are terrific!

Richard Purnell said...

Hey there - I used to live with Len. He was a great man. Here is a link to some reflections I have on him: http://richardpurnell.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/len-shelley-rip/

Best wishes

Richard Purnell

bunny mazhari said...

I knew Len Shelley, he was both an amazing artist and a very special human being. His art inspired me and made me laugh at the same time. We all miss him so much!