Bent Objects

Walking Nude In Paris

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 21:40:00 +0000

The night before her wedding day, she had a dream that she was walking nude through Paris. She tried to act like nothing unusual was happening, but people noticed, and there was a person with a camera, taking her picture for his blog.

The postcard object is a reproduction of a painting belonging to the Tate Modern, London. Artist of "Honeymoon Nude" is John Currin,1998.

I didn't leave her on the streets in Paris. I'm taking her home with me.

Stones and Chopsticks

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:33:00 +0000

edit-10 seconds after I posted this, I realized that I should have titled this post "Sticks and Stones". That's what I get for posting too early in the morning!

Yesterday we went to the Pompidou Museum to see a special exhibition that I've been really excited to see- "Calder, the Paris Years". It was really fantastic seeing so many of his wire pieces in person after reading about them in books.

Afterward, I made these walking stick/chopstick bugs and left them outside the museum. Sort of an offering I guess. I also gave a poster to the museum's bookstore. They had a wide variety of books, so you never know, maybe they'll use it somehow, someday.

We then walked along the Seine, where I dropped this character off. His head and body contain two stones that I picked up from the banks of the River Thames, as it flows through London.

Finding Bookstores

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 22:21:00 +0000

Spent part of the day looking for some of the great bookstores in London, so I could try and give some of my promotional Bent Objects posters away to them.

The photo above is me giving Robert, of Hatchard's books, a poster. Hatchards is the oldest bookshop in London, and is known for being a haunt of many a great writer over the centuries, but Robert took my poster anyway. Like the other three places that I gave posters to, I told Robert that maybe there might be a hole or stain on one of their walls in the back room that the poster could cover up. Of course, I told him that they could judge whether the poster would be an improvement over a stain or hole.

The fella in the photography/art section of the huge Waterstone's( also on Picadilly) was nice enough to even ask a little about the book, and he looked it up on his computer.

The clerk at Foyles simply said that they could use it, and took it from me before I could sign my name on it. She obviously wanted it in the best condition possible. I was also very impressed with how much she valued my time, not wanting to waste any of it with talking.

I forgot the name of the other place on Charing Cross Road that I approached. It was a fairly small place, which was packed with a great many books, many of them having to do with photography and art. After telling me that they didn't have room to post much of anything, even in their back room, I told her to take one anyway and keep it so that maybe she could retire in a few years.

I do have a better picture of me giving the poster to Robert, but it's a profile, and it makes me want to starve myself and do sit-ups. I don't really feel like doing either, especially with half our holiday still to come.

Spider In Christ Church

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:33:00 +0000

I left this spider outside the Christ Church College dining hall in Oxford that was the inspiration for the big dining hall in the Harry Potter movies. He's on a slanted ledge, heading towards the window.

Also -

I think I've been gaining weight here.

Today my goal is to walk through a few of the parks, and find some of the great book stores that you hear about. I'll see if they'll take a Bent Objects promotional poster or two.

Little Man Tate

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:50:00 +0000

We spent Friday afternoon in London at the Tate Modern, and I chose to recycle my map in my usual silly way. After we left the building, my wife and daughter bought some ice cream ("Super Soft" brand ice cream from a vendor- thumbs down), and I got out some wire and did my bending thing.

I then went back in and left him in their huge open area inside, took his portrait and walked away. While I was in the restroom, my daughter spied a security guard who came by and picked him up, chuckled and promptly tossed in a trash bin. Everyone's a critic I suppose, and I guess he figured he'd seen enough art to know what's trash and what's not! Ha!

My daughter did the guard one better though, and plucked little Tate out of the mostly empty receptacle and placed him in a spot away from the evil guard (Take that establishment!). He was still there when we left.

My review of the Tate Modern- Unbelievable. One famous work after another. They don't even space them out on the walls. In fact, the walls reminded me of a gallery which has to fit a lot of paintings in a little space, with works hanging at eye level, then one above that, then sometimes another above that. Incredible. And no filler, it's all good.

I've made a few more things, but haven't felt the urge to drop them off anywhere. We did walk Portobello Road saturday. People were telling me that it would be a mad house with tons of people. Yeah, there were a few other shoppers there. Kind of like Harrod's today where my wife ordered "afternoon tea", and I went ahead and joined her, but had coffee. The hardest part was constantly holding my pinky up the whole time. Simply exhausting! The little sandwiches were good though, and they even cut the crust off of them, and I haven't them that way since I was around six or seven. Good times.

My daughter is constantly shocked and amazed at the short skirts the ladies wear around here. Me too. Wonderfully shocked and amazed.

Clashing Colors

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:59:00 +0000

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We leave on our vacation Wednesday.
I hope to post some images from our trip on Friday or Saturday. Remember that we plan on being here Saturday, if you happen to be in London. A few people have mentioned that it will be rather busy that weekend, but I've been in my share of crowds, so I'll be there unless it's raining.

Also- Can't sleep? Hear my dulcet tones here, answering a some questions about wire, cavemen, and bananas. My part starts about 3/4 into it.

Retirement

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:19:00 +0000

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I'm twenty minutes late posting this on a self-imposed deadline. Good news is, I'm late because of a phone call I just received regarding some good, good news for Bent Objects. Hopefully I'll be able to make an announcement soon.

June 21st was here before I knew it!

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:38:00 +0000

Happy SOSAD everybody!

If you take any photos of your celebrations, you can post them on the SOSAD facebook page.

Attention People of London- I'm giving stuff away.

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:29:00 +0000

London is definitely a city that this blog gets some hits from. I thought that since I'm going to be there in just a few weeks, I thought that I'd try to have some Bent Objects fun there. Being that we are tourists, during the Saturday morning that we'll be there (July 4th), we'll be walking down Portobello Road checking out the market. We'll be walking north, starting at the antique section (or so I've read) around 10 a.m. I guess we'll keep meandering that way until we're hungry for lunch.

I'll have 4 or 5 Bent Object things with me (example above) just in case any blog visitors want to come out and say "Hi". But you have to do something to get something. You have to sing a song, or recite a poem for me. Just give an honest effort, that's all I ask. It'll be interesting to me just to see if anything happens with this. I'll probably be wearing an orange t-shirt and a funny hat. More details on that to come.

I plan on doing the same thing in Paris a week or so later.

I'll also be leaving stuff around the city, like I try to do when I travel. I'll post pictures of them. Chances of finding those are pretty slim, and I wonder what the percentage of those is that are simply thrown away. It doesn't matter much, I just do it for fun, but I do hope that someday I hear from someone after they find one. Kind of a message in a bottle. Or maybe even more fun- someone comes across this blog some time, and realizes where that thing that they found on the street years go came from!

Waiting for the right cake.

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 01:41:00 +0000

I've been banned in China?

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:35:00 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday on my twitter and facebook pages, Bent Objects has the honor of being banned in China. Now, part of me is kind of proud of this for some reason. For the government of a billion people to feel that I am some sort of threat (!) is kind of an interesting feeling for me. You have to understand that I'm not used to that sort of thing. In fact, I'm not sure if anyone has ever felt threatened in my presence, except maybe our older cat when I turn the vacuum sweeper on.

On the other hand, it makes me feel rather bad, because I found out about this from a nice person who likes to follow my blog in China. I've been linked to some popular sites there in the past, and have several followers there, and it saddens me that they can't follow my work right now. I like the Chinese, and would like to visit sometime, so I hope whoever makes the call of what is viewable, and what is not, will rethink this decision.

Above is the image that many people think may have caused this, but I'm not sure. It's called "America is asking for Change", and I posted it a year and a half ago. The thing is, if anything, it makes China look good, so I don't know why some chinese censor wouldn't like it. [One commenter at the time said that I didn't know what I was talking about in this image, which is usually very true, but this time history shows that I actually did! So to that guy I say- IN YOUR FACE! ]

Some others think it's the innuendo that my images sometimes have. That could be it too!

EDIT- Tim pointed out a story by the BBC about all blogspots (as well as flickr and twitter) are being blocked right now. This makes me feel better because my stuff will be probably be viewable again at some point by the Chinese.

Of course, it also takes away my brief feeling of being subversive! Oh well, back to normal.

Measuring Up to Other's Standards

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:26:00 +0000

He couldn't do it, and truth be told, he had a bit of a complex about it.

Am I being subtle here, or not?

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And no, I'm not taking any of you on our trip with us. Feel free to meet us over there though, so you can buy me a beer.

Nikoli hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that I may be scattering some things here and there. I may even post where I'm going to be, and you can get something from me in person. So be especially alert you London people and you Parisians (not that I really expect anyone to show, but maybe someone will surprise me).

Winners

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:59:00 +0000

The random winners, courtesy of numbers picked by my daughter-

Simone, Tamara, and Soe. Send your addresses to me at BentObjects@gmail.com .

Thanks for everyone's comments. I enjoyed reading them.

A Poster Giveaway

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:43:00 +0000

(it's clickable)

This last weekend was Book Expo America in New York City. My book's publisher asked if I would make an image of a particular subject for a promotional poster for it, and so I obliged, and I was sent a few copies to give away as I saw fit.

Of the three smaller images shown, one hasn't been seen on Bent Objects yet, and is a favorite of mine (and my wife's). I'll save it as something new for the poster winners, and for those of you who peruse the book.

I'll give away three posters in a random drawing later this week. (EDIT- CONTEST NOW CLOSED)T0 enter, how about something interesting- how about leaving a comment listing what you would have for your last meal (which has nothing to do with anything, it just sounded interesting to me).

Also, thanks for those who sent me their thoughts on where to stay in London and Paris this summer. Yes, the economy is crap, but life is short, and we keep putting it off. If anyone else has any thoughts on the subject, please email me at bentobjects@gmail.com. Thanks!

Best,

Terry

[edit- I think it's funny that some are surprised by the little bit of morbidity of my subject for your comments. Have you guys been paying attention to my work over the years? HA! I'm Mr. Morbid! Just have fun with it and try not to get to depressed about the idea! boohoo! ]

Over a million and a half visitors who were never here.

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Wed, 27 May 2009 04:49:00 +0000

"A Horrific Yarn"

Yesterday, Cracked.com unwittingly linked to a site which had several (10,12, maybe 15) uncredited works of mine. Well over 1,800,000 (! .... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!) people clicked on that link and looked at the images without knowing whose work it was. And I was a little upset.

Cracked quickly changed the link so it is directed to here, as soon as I messaged them. God bless their sick and twisted souls. Unfortunately, I'm sure most every visitor at Cracked.com has already clicked on that link and think they've seen all my work.

For those few people who accidently click on the link again, I thought I'd post a few older images that they might enjoy. That's why I'm posting these repeats today. There's a lot more here that you haven't seen before if you happened to see that other site yesterday.

And be careful! The following ancient image is NSFW- (some think that anyway...sigh). Scroll down please-

"His Dream Job"

And congratulations to me for not cursing about this all here, in a big, big way.

[edit]- I've gotten several thousand hits from Cracked, but their numbers listed by the out going link to me must be wrong. I probably missed out on 10's of thousands of hits, but a million seems very unlikely now. I should have known that in the first place, really.

Brush Man

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:58:00 +0000

Left somewhere

for someone

to find.

Self

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 26 May 2009 04:14:00 +0000

If anything, I flatter myself here.

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A crazily well-made, fan created trailer, for a movie that doesn't exist- Green Lantern via BoingBoing

Animation concerning an art themed bar - Drinks via d'Arte Board

And- Wire artist and two family members seriously looking for a reasonable places to stay in Paris and London this summer. Ideas? Email me at BentObjects@gmail.com. Thanks!

Honeymoon Sweet

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:22:00 +0000

In an effort to stay appealing...

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 12 May 2009 20:35:00 +0000

Broken Bulb

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Sometimes, this is how it is. Especially this week it seems.
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In other news-
My editor told me today that not only was the Bent Objects book gonna be hardcover, but it's going to have a dust jacket! Don't ask me why, but I'm pretty pumped about that. Just seems cool for some reason.

Also, a thanks to everyone who has bought something on Amazon besides pre-ordering my book. If you visit Amazon via my link to it, Bent Objects gets a small percentage of some of the purchases, so thank you very much! (It was funny that someone bought some pork rinds. Someone after my own heart! ha!)

And finally, to those nice people who happened to purchase one of the prints from my Etsy store, I got them into the mail yesterday. I had them all printed so that the handwritten title, my initials, and the number of the print would all be seen within a pre-made 8 x 10 inch matte. Just trying to save everyone a little bit of money "during these tough economic times".

Keeping It Fresh

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:03:00 +0000

Some of you may have seen this when I was interviewed by Rhett and Link. I won't go into any more of an interpretation.

Click on it and get a better look.

Book Cover!

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:14:00 +0000

There may end up being a few changes to it, not sure, but a cover has been chosen. I'm going to be terribly crass and make you go to my Amazon page. Click on the image. I'll have a really large image of it here at some point.

The Buy Indie book site doesn't have the cover yet, but if you wish to shop locally you can still pre-order it there.

Hope you enjoy it.

Terry

Wol-vert-bean!

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 23:44:00 +0000

I'm curious about this movie. Not looking forward to it like I am the new Star Trek, but I'll definitely go see it.

And yes, those are x-acto blades.

Yesterday's Flowers

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:41:00 +0000

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I'm putting some prints of "I Like to Have Coffee With My Breakfast" in my Etsy store. Each will be titled, numbered (edition of 50), and signed by me.

[edit- I screwed up the listing, but Etsy now knows that I have more than one print for sale!]

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And Iberg asked for a profile of Mr. Atlas Tee.

A Tee-ragic Greek Hero

bentobjects@gmail.com (Terry) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Hey there visitors, sorry it's been so long between posts.

I managed to link to link to "Indie Bound" on the sidebar if you care to pre-order a Bent Objects book from someone local (at least if you're in the U.S.). I also have that Amazon link if you want to go that way. It's very reasonably priced I think.

For those who were asking about an autographed copy, I'm still sorting that out a bit. It will be possible though.

[edit- A cover for the book hasn't been chosen yet, so that's why one isn't shown at the pre-order sites. I imagine that will be solved soon.]