JOSLIN – O – RAMA!

It would seem that Coilhouse’s favorite power couple, the Joslins, are going for complete and total art world domination in late 2011! These two lovelies have been consistently inspiring, supporting, and contributing to us since the very beginning. Jessica was our biggest feature in Issue 01 of the print magazine, and we just published a lavish interview with Jared in Issue 06. (Which, btw, is still available in our shop… but not for long! Get it while you can.)

We love these two! Here’s a quick rundown of Jessica and Jared’s various exploits in recent months:


“Devil’s Kiss” by Jared Joslin. Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches, price upon request.

Jared’s newest oil painting “Devil’s Kiss” is the first in a new series of paintings exploring the high life and thrill of masquerade balls of the 1920’s. Says Jared:

“In this dream-like whirl of frenzied delight, set in a snow globe atmosphere of streamers, confetti and balloons, I intend to explore and depict stolen moments, passionate persuits and secret longings. Moments marked by intense pleasure in a state of high celebration.”

Meanwhile, Jessica’s gorgeous creatures are scampering all over the place! Comet (pictured below) is going to London for the “Wild Life” group show at Stolen Space Gallery, opening tomorrow, Dec 2:
Comet, by Jessica Joslin.

Agate (pictured below), as well as Almond and Silver (shown after the jump) are all headed to Roq La Rue in Seattle. Opening Dec 9, 6-9pm:


Agate, by Jessica Joslin.

Video of Molly Crabapple’s Week in Hell

Coilhouse pal Keith Jenson shot and edited together this short documentary film about Molly and her marvelously wacky “Week in Hell” project:

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“In September of 2011 artist/illustrator Molly Crabapple locked herself in a hotel room in New York City, covered the walls in paper and set about covering that paper with art. Funded with an impressive Kickstarter campaign Molly drew 270 feet of art over the course of a week. A week filled with musicians, performers, press, absinthe and drawing.”

Hooray, Molly! Hooray, friends! Hooray, backers! Hooray AAAHHHRRRT!


Photo by Steve Prue

BTC: Happy Birthday, Björk!

Good morning! On this day in 1965, in Reykjavík, Iceland, a strange and delightful being called Björk Guðmundsdóttir was born. Or hatched out of a pod. Or was ejected from a volcano. Or something. Whatever.

Anyhoo… 46 years later, she’s still brimming with vim, vigor, and weirdness. Coilhouse has compiled a massive YouTube playlist of her music videos to honor the occasion of her whelping, and hopefully help you to wake your ass up on this glacially chilly November morn.

Click here to watch the rest of Coilhouse’s EPIC BJORK BIRTHDAY PLAYLIST ON TEH YOOTOOBZ.

Oh-So-Cute & Creepy

Please give a warm welcome to our newest guest blogger, Caroline E. Willis! Caroline describes herself as “a writer and occasionally an archaeologist.” She also has a highly entertaining blog “about dressing up and hitting people with latex.” Needless to say, we like Caroline a lot. -Mer


“Sentimental” by Kathie Olivas, 2009, oil on canvas, 30”x40”. (Via)

“Most of us can agree on the artistic value of a Monet or Titian, but this work is for a daring audience, an audience open to exploring the strange beauty and the ecstasy inherent in our culture’s aversions.”

~Carrie Ann Baade
Guest Curator of the Cute & Creepy exhibition, FSU Museum of Fine Arts.

Drive past enough hazy bayous and bent oaks, sacrifice enough November butterflies on the altar of your windshield, and you’ll find something creepy in the heart of Florida. Carrie Ann Baade has collected the works of 25 fellow artists- works of beautiful, grotesque, adorable art- for the Cute & Creepy exhibition that’s currently taking Tallahassee by storm.

Over two-thousand people attended the opening- four times more than any other opening at the museum thus far, and some strange lure continues to draw unprecedented numbers to this show- a lure as hard to define as the subject of the show itself. Cute & Creepy is an exploration of boundaries, but the artworks on display do not so much “cross the line” as seem unaware that any boundaries exist. Each object is wholly itself; it is the viewers for whom categorization fails.


Toddlerpede 2.0” by Jon Beinart. 2011, mixed media sculpture, approximately 36”x36”x36”. Photo by Caroline E. Willis.

“Mechanical Dolls” Editorial for Vogue Italia


Via Lana Guerra. Thanks, doll!

A backstage peep at photographer Tim Walker’s phenomenal ‘Mechanical Dolls‘ editorial for the October 2011 edition of Vogue Italia, featuring models Audrey Marnay & Kirsi Pyrhonen. Brilliantly styled by Jacob K. — a truly breathtaking amalgam of outmoded automata and puppetry, paired with delicate vintage French, British and Japanese garments. Make-up by Val Garland, hair by Malcolm Edwards.


Photo by Tim Walker from the “Mechanical Dolls” editorial, Vogue Italia, 2011.

BTC: Susan Tyrrell Performs “Witch’s Egg” From the Forbidden Zone (NSFW)

This week’s installment of BTC comes to us courtesy of the ineffable cinematic WTF-fest that is The Forbidden Zone. Take it away, Susu

Directed by Richard Elfman, TFZ stars real life ex-lovers Hervé Villechaize and Susan Tyrrell (who steals the show with the above number, which she wrote the lyrics for herself!) along with various members of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. TFZ also features the first full-length film score by Richard’s younger brother, Danny Elfman, along with Warhol Superstar Viva, B-movie maniac Joe Spinell, performance art duo the Kipper Kids, and the pioneering street dance troupe, The Lockers.

Made on a shoestring over the course of three years in the early eighties, TFZ is “basically a filmed version of what we were doing on stage with the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo,” Richard Elfman said when Coilhouse interviewed him last year. “As the group was becoming less ‘theatrical’ and more rock based, I wanted to preserve on film the essence of what we had been doing on stage.” Elfman’s final cut is reflective all of the funniest, weirdest, most brazen and poignant attributes of ‘Boingo.

You can read all about this subterranean cult classic in Issue Six of the magazine, which will probably sell out of our web store pretty soon, so don’t put off buying your copy if you want to learn more about the on and offscreen adventures of Queen Doris, King Fausto, Squeezit Henderson the Chicken Boy, Frenchy and Renee.

This week’s BTC is dedicated to two darlings: firstly, to our brave and steadfast Circulation Director, Gretta Sherwood, who will be mailing off thousands of copies of the magazine over the coming weeks, and secondly, to Wiley Wiggins, who got Coilhouse a quote from Queen Doris herself for the magazine article. Gret and Wiley are both celebrating birthdays this week! Big love and gratitude to each of you beauties.

Hybrid Creatures in X-Ray by Benedetta Bonichi


The Metamorphosis, 2007

Bejeweled octopus centaurs, birdwomen and mermaids. Tumblr oldies but goodies, these fantastical x-rayed hybrid human-animals are the work of Italian artist Benedetta Bonichi. More of her work can be seen at her website, To See in the Dark. If you like Benedetta’s work, check out these gorgeous corset x-rays from 1908 and the raunchy 2001 x-ray art (NSFW!) of Wim Delvoye.

[via Clayton Cubitt]


La collana di perle, 2002.

“Taking the Hobbits to Isengard” (UBER EXTENDED DANCE REMIX… GO!!!)

Good morning! Guess who’s heading back to Middle Erff today? It’s gonna be a long and difficult journey. Luckily, I’m bringing along plenty of light reading material, tasty snacks, and this version of Erwin Beekveld’s “They’re Taking the Hobbits to Isengard”, which should keep me (and you!) entertained for, oh, I dunno… ten hours?


via Bunny

Or not. Have a great week, lovelies.

The Paris Flat That Time Forgot

Via Daily Telegraph / How To Be A Retronaut / Thomas Negovan:

“Mrs de Florian never returned to her Paris flat after the war and died at the age of 91 in 2010. Behind the door, under a thick layer of dust lay a treasure trove of turn-of-the-century objects including a painting by the 19th century Italian artist Giovanni Boldini.”

“Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris’ 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.”

“‘There was a smell of old dust,’ said Olivier Choppin-Janvry, who made the discovery. Walking under high wooden ceilings, past an old wood stove and stone sink in the kitchen, he spotted a stuffed ostrich and a Mickey Mouse toy dating from before the war, as well as an exquisite dressing table…”

(Read more at the Daily Telegraph.) 

“My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here.”


Photograph by Ted Neuhoff

Mission most fully and beautifully accomplished, good sir. And the world still misses you very much. But we’ll keep believing, keep pretending.

Happy 75th birthday, Jim Henson.