Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Way-Out Wednesday: I've Got The World On A String

Not too long ago, I was rambling on about grody (to me, anyway) 70's art (like those big-eyed girl paintings made hip again by those damn hipsters, with their stringy hair and...Lip Smackers or...Sassoon jeans...or whatever, I don't "do" hipster) and my friend over at Monkey Muck reminded me of a grotesqueness I haven't thought about in forever, and that, my dear friends, is 70's string art. You all know it. If you're in my age group, then your parents probably had a string art picture hanging up in their rumpus room (I love that word), if you were an adult in the 70's, then you probably had a string art picture in your basement next to the 8-track, bean bag chairs and hanging above the table where you stashed your pot. Don't act like you didn't because I know you did. Which leads me to a question or 2, maybe 6:

1.) Where have the string arts gone?
2.) Have you seen any recently?
3.) Does anyone currently own a string art?
4.) Were the string arts an American thing or was an international phenom as well?
5.) If the string arts did travel overseas, what were the popular themes?
6.) How drunk do you have to be before hammering nails into canvas and tieing
strings to them is fun?

So for this Way-Out Wednesday, I went on a quest for the string arts and found a handful of wonderfully painful examples, and as always, all pictures are clickable so you can go to the listing and buy it. Which means either you're a patchouli-stinking, Birkenstock-wearing, Phish-listening, dope-smoking, wanna-be hippie hipster neophile who's probably going to an ivy league school on Daddy's bill, or you just have an affinity for remembering your youth. Please do enjoy the wonder that is called 70's String Art:




Here's a whole kit! What joy.






Sooo...this is muy macho, right? Just checking.





Why so angry, Mr. Owl? I'm not the one who stole your damn Tootsie Pop, so don't blame me! Don't bite my head off, grumpy pants. GOSH. Stupid mean owl.






I have GOT to say something, or my head might explode...this is the only time I'll probably ever be able to say this here and it not be filthy...can't keep it in...LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT COCK! Wheeeew. Praise jebus! The demons have been ex-or-sized! I have been cleansed! Ok. Much better now. Glad I got that out.





I know owls are a ubiquitous 70's theme, but my grandmother collected all things owl in the 70's and had the exact same one as this! Actually, I bet everyone's grandmother collected all things owl and had the exact same one as this.






Oh. Good. Lord...Eeeew. I don't feel so good...I NEED AN ADULT! I NEED AN ADULT!...THINK OF A HAPPY PLACE...GO TO THAT HAPPY PLACE...UNICORNS AND RAINBOWS, UNICORNS AND RAINBOWS...*blaarf*...Okey dokey then, all better.




"I've Got the World on a String" by many peeps, though the version I'm thinking of is Louis Prima's.

8 comments:

  1. Oh my sweet jeebus, that last picture is enough to make me go hysterically blind. On a side note, you know who pushed the whole string art movement? The decorative nail industry, that's who! The dirty bastards!

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  2. I bet hippies ran the decorative nail corporations. Who else would deem "nekkid lovers backlit by the setting sun" string art acceptable?

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  3. We had quite a few of these in our house. I remember one of a matador. I loved these. Thanks for reminding me of how cool they were.

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  4. String art definitely made it to Australia and still lurks in beach houses up and down the coast to this day. I seem to recall some abstract works, and maybe some with nautical themes (how appropriate). Shudder.

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  5. Hi, Claire! Thank you for the international check-in! Very interesting to know that string art "got around"!

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  6. I live in Canada, and we had string art here, too.

    In my grade 7 art class in about 1982 (yep, I'm that old :) ) we had to design and make string art. I ended up designing abstract designs because I thought the symmetrical ones were... too symmetrical.

    Chantelle

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  7. I guess I'm a freak because I think these are awesome.

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  8. Nope, you're not a freak! I think they're made of awesome, in a retro-is-cool kind of way. They remind me of my youth and the smell of hippies, so that's why to me they're just...*shudder*.

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