The wife of my bosom and I got home Tuesday and I'm taking stock of all the stuff that's come out of our suitcases. We flew into Rome and were met and driven by a charming bloke and fellow artist named Marco Farinelli to Florence, where we slept and stayed most of the next day. Florence, city of countless artistic marvels, which I appear to have recorded in two photos. First, this great shot of our Monty vomiting out of the side of the Cathedral:


Second, a view from the roof garden of the Scuola Intenazionale di Comics, where I gave a stand up talk for about three hours to a roomful of great students who laughed in all the right places thanks to Vanessa, my translator for the day. She came up here for a smoke break, and we comic book artists never miss an opportunity to make a photograph of foreign rooftops. You never know when you might need it.

on Rowland Emmett:


Engines of Enchantment: The Machines and Cartoons of Rowland Emett- 29 July Until Nov 1 - Cartoon Museum, London,
Time Out gives the simplest summary:

A retrospective of cartoonist and creator of whimsical kinetic sculpture Rowland Emett. The exhibition includes three machines created for the 1968 film 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang'. During the war Emett worked as a draughtsman at the air ministry, supplying drawings to Punch at the same time of increasingly romantic trains, trams and boats. In 1951 he was invited to turn drawing into reality with the construction of three engines for the Far Tottering and Oyster Creek Railway at the Festival of Britain. The show includes an original model of the train as well as associated drawings.

Apparently The Ontario Science Centre has the largest single collection of Emmett creations, which they exhibit every year. probabilityfunction made this video there in February. His Scott Joplin soundtrack works very nicely:



Simon Hoggart in the Guardian:

A few years earlier, Mum and Dad went to the Festival of Britain. We still have the record they made for half-a-crown in which they described for me and my sister what they'd seen and done. They rode, my Mum said in the fluting RP accent she lost years ago, on "a funny train, with a kettle instead of a funnel".
So it was another piquant moment when I went to the new Rowland Emett exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in Little Russell Street, London. There is Emett's own model of the funny train, kettle duly in place, alongside several others of his wonderful baroque machines. We tend to forget how incredibly popular Emett was between the 1950s and the 80s.

photo of Emmett riding one of his contraptions at Corbis.com
another from LIFE magazine

update. I have just added the new label 'humorous sculpture' and gone back through the archive and applied it some posts that previously went under other headings. enjoy.

Bruno's art and sculpture garden

"Hidden amongst the lush rain forests North East of Melbourne, Victoria, is the rare jewel that is Bruno's art and sculpture garden."


"Unfortunately on the 7th of February 2009 a bushfire raged through the township, decimating everything in its path without mercy and claimed the lives of our friends and neighbours indiscriminately. Bruno was extremely lucky to survive and the rest of the family are safe and well."
Great website. Books and Dvds lost but hope to be replaced soon.

last time I was in Melbourne I was quite taken with some humorous statuary around the footpaths (or sidewalks as they say in the yoo ess) (or 'the pavement' as they say in the yoo kay) . Here's another:


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Passenger 'moons' at speed camera- BBC News- 1 May- (with photo)

A front seat car passenger was photographed baring his backside at a speed camera in Northumberland.
The "mooning" man was snapped by the mobile camera as the black BMW X5 drove past on the A1171 Dudley Lane in Cramlington last month. Safety campaigners have labelled the man as a "fool"

(via our bare botty correspondent)
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I feel a yearning to hear once more Mike Harding singing his song 'Manuel'.

Manuel dances
Manuel dances,
He sambas with no trousers ON

I may have misremebered the lyrics, but that's the way I sing them at the dinner table. I'd love to hear anyone confirm, deny or send a video link as I can't find one..

Some more thoughts on the grotesque carvings on Romanesque churches. It was one of these that inspired the Batman book I drew a while back. Specifically a photo of a corbel decoration which looked like the following (from Irnham in Lincolnshire, England), allowing for the fact I enlarged the ears ever so slightly and changed the lighting somewhat to put DC off the track that I was basing it on somebody else's photo (they go into a terrible panic if they find out that you've referenced something from the real world.) But I swear that the original looked like Batman.


These things are from jaround nine hundred years ago, but they occasionally have a cartoon sensiblity that looks remarkably recent.


The above is from Wikipedia and taken by Simon Garbutt with a much better ability and camera than mine at the exquisite Romanesque church of Saint Mary and Saint David in Kilpeck, Herefordshire."It shows one of the well-preserved carved corbels supporting the roof, depicting a hound and a hare, in a delightful style of cartoon-like simplicity. Carved during the mid 12th century AD (late Norman period) by an unknown sculptor of the 'Herefordshire School'". (and a salute to Mr Garbutt for allowing his photos to be shown as I'm doing here in the interests of sharing this kind of knowledge.) The Wikipedia entry for Kilpeck Church has another of his photos, of a hag displaying her vulva, known in studies of the subject as a Sheela-na-gig.
Peter Evans has made a more thorough study of the site with sixteen photos of other corbels.

also of interest

Satan in the groin, a slide show with over a hundred images of lust and folly on old churches.

I've only been to Angouleme the once, in 2005, and my favourite part was the medieval cathedral.


My particular interest is the subject of the grotesques around the edges of the roof, which I photographed to the best of my ordinary camera's ability, knowing I could zoom and try to clarify later in photoshop.


In the Romanesque period the corbels, those jutting stone blocks whose purpose was to 'support a superincumbent weight' would be decorated with images of lust and folly. They are not to be confused with the more elaborate gargoyles, or water spout decorations, of the later Gothic period.


There is often an appealingly simple and direct humorous quality to this class of carvings, and they are not at all well documented. For instance, the books on this cathedral don't say anything about them otherwise I wouldn't have had to walk around the building in the rain. If I found myself in Europe more often I would go on journeys just to photograph this kind of sculpture. And I'd buy a more suitable camera


It's not clear in my photo but it can be verified by comparison with the type from other locations that this little chap is gripping his thighs tightly in order to show us his anus.


And I'm not sure what is going on here, though the configuration suggests a fornicating couple, as seen elsewhere.

Talking statues

Melbourne has a few examples of humorous sculpture around the city. Here's one the skinny blokes, and me. I'm the talking one.


I see this kind of thing all around the world, like the bronze suitcase in the central rail station in Madrid, if it's still there. And I find myself thinking about the fate of sculpture in public spaces over the last thirty years, such as Serra's Tilted arc that was put in front of the Federal Government building in Manhattan in 1981 and after much public contoversy, removed in 1989. It was intended 'to alter and dislocate the decorative function of the plaza', cost $175,000 to erect, $35,000 to dimantle, and $50,000 to re-erect in another location.
Melbourne has a similar story (I'm sure most cities do): Vault, more popularly know as The Yellow Peril, a sculpture erected in 1980 at a cost of $70,000 and, after much controversy, moved the following year. Here is an article titled What the sculpture said:

The sculpture, however, was not banished from the City Square simply because people didn’t like it, but because a group of Councillors finally won the debate that Vault was not appropriate to the City Square of Melbourne. Vault, it was decided then, did not represent the aspirations of Melbourne for its City Square, did not say the things they wanted it to say...
Vault, as a sculpture in public, was not only contemporary in its style, material, construction and colour, it did not tell Australian stories. Melbourne was faced with a new type of public sculpture that spoke in a different way.

Perhaps the real problem was that its big blank spaces were an invitation to scrawl slogans, such as the one for 'JOBS NOW' in this old photo:


I am inevitably and mischievously reminded of the tradition of the Talking Statues of Rome. "In 1501 Cardinal Oliviero Carafa put in a small square near Piazza Navona the battered torso of a statue representing Menelaus with the body of Patroclus. Each year on April 25 the Cardinal chaired a sort of Latin literary competition and poems were posted on the statue and occasionally this happened outside the competition period." In this way Pasquino (the name given to the statue, said to be after a well known deformed dwarf) became the first talking statue of Rome. The trick was to sneak out under cover of dark and paste your inflamatory verses or satirical squibs onto the shapeless lump. At one stage the Pope wanted to chuck it in the Tiber to put an end to the mockeries. When guards were put on the statue, the practice was relocated to the colossal staue of a river god at the foot of Capitol Hill. This one was named Marforio and the whole thing became more interesting as Pasquino and Marforio started having conversations. A mutilated colossal priestess of Isis became known as Madam Lucrezia and added a female voice to the comedy.
I love this one:

Via del Babbuino (Baboon) is named after an old statue of a Silenus, which was referred to in derogatory terms as il Babbuino. Its location in the Strangers' Quarter of Rome made it an alternative site for posting pasquinades without a high risk of being caught. Il Babbuino was also used by the large community of foreigners living in the area for lampooning members of the community.

(lots of photos at the link.) update. edit to fix mistake caught by second commenter.

Short post; cat out of bag.

In the nearly two months I've been doing this daily blog, only one post attracted zero comments. Regular commenter Nathalie has just gone back and unblemished it.
"Looking back on this post, I think you might also enjoy this little creature and the site it came from."
My original post was about sculptor Christopher Trotter and his scrap metal constructions which appealed to me for his sense of humour, much like the links above. There are a couple more of his works here (the kangaroos, about a dozen items from top; they're in the middle of a busy city sidewalk) and here.
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Since I'm running late today and only have time for a short post, here's a piece of news. The book which I am currently working on is now 41 pages to the good, in full painted colour. If the schedule is met, it will be out in mid 2008 from First Second Books. It's title :
The Amazing Remarkable Mr. Leotard.
I'd tell you more about it but I've already gone so far astray from the original pitch that I don't want to worry my editor.

...but for me and thee.

Final on the Black Diamond Detective Agency for a while, but we will be back. In case the facetiousness here at campbell-blogspot should give a false impression of levity in the overall tone of the book, here is a page with a glimpse of the tragic. It's also the first appearance of a Black Diamond Detective. And I'm rather pleased with my colour scheme, if I may say so.


(click for larger)

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Joining in the spirit of proposed spousal address here at campbell-blogspot, Brad Weber sent me an email beginning 'The wife took me to the art institute in Chicago..." and apropos of my 'cork people', he attached a photo of some little figures made by Lyonel Feininger which are on display at the museum, of which this is an enlarged detail.



Feininger was one of the great early comic strip makers, and later a noted painter in the cubist manner.

For a look at his comic strip work, Andy at Bugpowder is a good place to start. Here's a reduced detail from one of the pleasing full-scale pages on show there, including some examples I'm unfamiliar with, presumably work published in Germany rather than the two famous series he made for the Chicago Tribune. The little figures above look like the Kinder Kids from that paper, which is where the panel below comes from.



My old publisher, Kitchen Sink put out a full collection of the pages back in 1994, but you ain't getting my copy.

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My pal White, chartered accountant with a legal firm, as you may or may not recall, sends the following:
"The defence lawyer of a Wisconsin man charged with having sex with a dead deer is claiming he's innocent of any wrongdoing - because a "crimes against sexual morality" statute prohibits sex with animals, but fails to mention carcasses, The Duluth News Tribune reports..."

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How to hide a comic book.
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The Pick-up Truck of Hieronymus Bosch. part 3

Thanks to the perspicacity of my pal Evans, the truck upon which we have been feasting our gaze has been identified as the work of Brisbane sculptor, Christopher Trotter. There is a page of detail close-ups at the artist's site, but I'm finding it frustrating there as we really need to both zoom in on and enlarge some those details to get a full appreciation of the job. So here we go, working from the back up the left hand side.

Stork:



in the passenger seat...



looks like Feathers McGraw:







these hood ornaments are the piece de resistance.





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That second from last is a picture of me, blowing my own trumpet.

The Pick-up Truck of Hieronymus Bosch. part 2

The truck again. If memory serves, I photographed it quite thoroughly because around that time I was planning a big book that would have been titled The History of Humour. I would have tagged this truck onto the end of a chapter on Hieronymus Bosch, the man who dropped the detritus of gothic marginalia on the welcome mat of the High and noble Renaissance. This would have been the Truck of Fools careening to its doom, like a medieval metaphor for all of society.

The front is a mad sea creature with ill matched eyes:




Here is the Hell door, with memento mori:



and hermit crabs:



composite creatures:



including Arcimboldo guy:



Scorpion tail:



I wish I had a decent shot of the rear. Cal says there was a metal mouse peeping out of the exhaust.

The best parts tomorrow, final.

Waitaminit. phone call. It's Evans. That looks like Christopher Trotter's work... And I'm to make sure I don't claim this insight as my own... yeah.. Evans knows the score? bugger off, I'm not saying that... yeah, okay... okay, I'll bung an email to Mr Trotter and we'll have this confirmed by tomorrow.
and thanks for roning.

Confirmation already:
"Hi Eddie,
I am currently away on holidays. back in a weeks time. Can send info regarding "The Scavenger" then.
Cheers,
Christopher"

So the truck is titled 'The Scavenger' "...(Christopher Trotter, 1998), based on a war-surplus 1940 Ford Crane truck, New Farm Park, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia."
And here's another link found in my quick browse: Life Forms Sculpture
Don't things move fast in this age of blogging. Christopher Trotter's work can be seen in many places around Brisbane. There's a great bus stop with metal wallabies climbing all over the bench seats. I'll see if I can get a photo or two.

The Pick-up Truck of Hieronymus Bosch. part 1

Thought for the day: "What if there is no tomorrow? There wasn't one today." -the Bill Murray character in Groundhog day, which was on the box here yesterday.

So far, the new year is going much like the old one. I still can't manage to get a picture uploaded to the profile thing on the right there. So apologies to the 843 people who have looked in there and found nothing (or the one person who has looked 843 times). I've noticed, here and there, folks who are having trouble with the new version of Blogger. Well, here at Castle Campbell we are no different. I can only upload a couple of pictures immediately after I've first signed in. After that it refuses me and I have to sign out and then sign in again, and even then I have to lean slightly to the right and chew my tongue in a certain way. In fact it is so suited to our mental condition here that there is even a suggestion going around that the new version of Blogger may even have been designed by Campbell.
* * * *
To business. In the first photo you see a truck that I observed parked in our town square here in Brisbane, in a roped-off, on-show way, some six or seven years back. I don't know from where it comes, whether it's local or flown in, or who is responsible for it. All I know is that it is one of the most magnificent things I have ever looked upon.



I'm only dating my photo approximately based on the guessable age of the wee person in this second photo: Callum Campbell. He looks about eight here. He's now taller than me, has long hair and knocks around on a skateboard all day.



He was last seen in print in The Fate of the Artist mooching cash from me to buy a condom:



Back then we used to occasionally go into town and 'hang out', as our American chums would say. We'd call it our 'father-son day out'. On these special occasions, among our frivolous quips and jollities, I would sometimes instruct him in the ways of the world. In one such moment of seriousness, we had stopped in the middle of the main street, the busy Queen Street Mall, I said to the wee lad, "There's nothing a woman likes more than when you put your nose in her belly button and go (like big flobbery dog with loose jowels) flubadubadubadubba!"
And he logged this imporatant information away in his lttle head while replying, "Yeah, never mind all that penis and vagina stuff, hey Dad?

Tomorrow, the details.