February 9, 2008

Get a better look at our bathroom vision!

Six months ago we renovated our bathrooms. That fifty year old retro look we loved when we bought the house was really getting old. Our green tub, along with its matching sink and toilet had lost their luster. And a complete bathroom redo was in order.

Suddenly, this weekend, when I opened our beautiful new wood veneer medicine cabinet I spied an apparition —a vision— but from who or what? A controversy is brewing as to who is trying to contact us.

Who was trying to contact us? What do you think? Click each image to get a better look.

I immediately thought it was E.T. But when I showed my wife, she started to laugh. “That’s ridiculous. THAT is a nude woman,” she said. “Definitely.” Expert museum curators concurred. “Look closely at the German Expressionsts,” they said. Maybe it’s a message from Edvard Munch. Or better yet, a long-lost woodcut from the master of angst (we could use the money for our upcoming kitchen renovation). Net cognoscenti vehemently disagree: “It’s definitely a religious revelation from the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster”. A sign indeed; but what could it mean?

SciFi fans, bloggers, and art dealers are starting to line up in front of our house to pay homage to our vision. This is much bigger than the woman who saw the Virgin Mary in her grilled cheese sandwich. And much more valuable. Definitely much more valuable.

Of note: Today marks the seventh anniversary of Life Outtacontext. Some of my favorite posts can be found on the right, under PICK OF THE CROP.

• [ E.T., Edvard Munch, Spaghetti Monster, Religious Vision, Bathroom Renovation ]

Oh, it’s a woman.

Growing up in Michigan, I had a set of sliding wood closet doors with a similar veneer pattern. At night I couldn’t sleep with the doors open or closed. The monster was on the outside and inside of the closet.

Your ability to call up art hysterical parallels is uncanny! Have you seen the tome Why Cats Paint? Your art sleuthing is dazzling!

What are you talking about? That is clearly Cthulhu. Pray that you are eaten first!

As much as I’d like it to be the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it is obviously the Cookie Monster.

I am with you, Jeff! It’s ET! Don’t go home; stay!

That’s a lithograph by Munch; not a woodcut.

Andy, you’re correct: the Munch example I showed is a lithograph. However, I was referring to the back of my medicine cabinet, which I had hoped was a previously undiscovered Munch woodcut.

The Munch print shown here is entitled Madonna. There are a number of lithographic variations he made of this image between 1895 and 1902. In addition, the artist painted five different versions of the piece between 1894 and 1895.

I’d say your medicine cabinet is a REPOSITORY of fine art in the Joseph Cornell vein.