Because of its unusual design, the house attracts many tourists from all over the world.

[photos by Feliciano Guimaraes]

image credits

image credits

Mixed media including fabric and Paperclay were used to make these little creepy and scary dolls

”I am a sculptor, painter and digital artist. My work draws on diverse world art and cultural influences, which get mixed up and re-invented through the lens of my imagination. The result is a personal mythology that draws on and informs world history and mythology while defining it’s own unique forms and traditions. My Mummy dolls are an example of the kind of artifact that result from this process.”

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Credits to Jake von Slatt for this amazing keyboard

Environmentally friendly vehicle From China

(Alaskan huskies) were born to pull. The smaller body means a faster recovery time after a run.

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“The spirit of this series is concerned with searching, seeking something; people are looking for something,” he says.”I chose terrorism because right now the whole world is looking for terrorists. And terrorism is a global topic that everyone can identify with.”

The departure may simply be a way of injecting something different into his prolific repertoire of self-portraits, even though they remain popular on the international circuit.

But any Yue Minjun work is sure to be colorful, ironic, and deceptive, just like Yue Minjun – the man who seems to always wear a mask of quiet seriousness. And it’s that seriousness of purpose – that stubborn single-mindedness – that has brought Yue Minjun out of the shadows in recent years.

Oil on canvas

Image Sources: 1 2 3

1962  Born in Daqing, Heilongjiang province
1968  Moved to Beijing
1979  Worked as an electrician, Ocean Oil Company, Tianjin
1983  Graduated form Hebei Normal University, oil painting department
1996  Designed “Redstar” watch for the Spring 1996 Collection of
Swatch Artists’ Collection Watches

Currently living and working in Beijing, China

Solo Exhibitions
2007
Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA
Looking for Art, Beijing Commune, Beijing

2006
The Reproduction of Idols: Yue Minjun, 2004-2006, Hexiang Ning Art Museum, Shenzhen, China
Looking for Terrorists, Beijing Commune, Beijing

2005
Post Auratic Self Portrayal of Yue Minjun, CP Foundation, Jakarta, Indonesia

2004
Yue Minjun: Sculptures & Paintings, Schoeni Art Gallery, Hong Kong
Yue Minjun: Beijing Ironicals, PrŸss & Ochs Gallery, Berlin, Germany

2003
Beijing Ironicals, Alexander Ochs Galleries, Berlin
Yue Minjun, Meile Gallery, Switzerland

2000
Red Ocean, Chinese Contemporary, London

1997
Klaus Littmann Gallery, Basel

The Abby dates to c.709, when legend has the Archangel Michael appearing before, and directing bishop Aubert of Avranches to build a shrine on an islet called ‘Mount Tombe’. This islet lies at the southern most point off the Normandy coastline, just before Brittany to the west. This is the base of a Bay of Mont Saint-Michel that opens into La Manche [channel waterway between England and Northern France]. The islet consists of a nearly 80 meters high rock with a circumference of about .8 km. It is connected to the mainland by a very narrow and long causeway.
Bishop Aubert had an oratory constructed on the top of the rock. A monastery was started in 1017, with stones hauled at low tide from the mainland in Brittany. Blanche of Castile, regent of France, ordered the gothic cloister in 1211 added to the earlier Carolingian abbey. A town developed at the base. Both the abby and the town had fortified defenses. The Mont is half surrounded by water, except twice a day it is besieged by swift moving tides that leave only the causeway route for access. Defenders of this fortress abbey have the advantage of its Saint Aubert’s spring. Nearby is a smaller islet, called ‘Tombelaine Island’, which is very baren and was used to discpline individuals.
In 966, monks of the Benedictine order under abbot Maynard replaced the previous monks. They encouraged the cult of Saint Michael and received pilgrams. By the time of William the Conqueror, the abbey benefited from many noble protectors. The abbot Robert de Thorigny administered the abbey at its peak of fortune. The shrine has seen is number of miracles and fostered many legends. Site of early medieval religious feasts and ceremonies.
Mont Saint-Michel was besieged and taken as part of Philippe Auguste’s conquest of Normandy from the Plantangenets in 1214. The site continued to have an increased role in medieval European pilgrimages. Sometimes it was the destination, and at others it was only a stop for those traveling to sites further south. Lower class pilgrims were quartered in the town, but nobles were received by the abbot in the grand abbey.

The Story of Mont Saint-Michel in the Hundred Years’ War

The birds are trained to search for fish at their master’s signals, typically a sharp whistle, shout, or stamping of feet. Once a cormorant catches its prey, the fish is lodged in the bird’s elastic esophagus. Usually, a cord is tied around the bird’s neck to prevent it from swallowing the fish. When the cormorant’s neck is full it returns to the boat and delivers the prey to its master. To maintain the cormorants’ motivation to fish, they are kept on a reduced diet and are rewarded with food after each catch.

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Now, about 163,000 Karen people are crowded together into nine refugee camps along the Thailand-Burma border.