The Largest Carousel in the World at House on the Rock

Video shot by Kym O'Donnell. A view of the carousel inside the House on the Rock. Boasting not a single horse but instead fabulous hybrids and monsters.

House on the Rock - The Magician

House on the Rock- Esmeralda

Esmeralda is an automaton fortune teller in the themed main street area of House on the Rock.

Madison Wisconsin Chapter 2- House on the Rock

The area around Madison Wisconsin is teeming with strange attractions to tempt the curious or bored. However, my first stay there only allowed me to go to the House on the Rock. I say "only" but the House on the Rock was plenty for me to take in and think about. The place still haunts me and I encourage anyone who is the Madison area to spend a day there. The attraction is the creation of one Alex Jordon who built it over 30 years as a tourist attraction and architectural oddity. Basically, it is a self guided tour through one man's bizarre taste. Mr. Jordon was a collector and fabricator ( and employed many people to fabricate his twisted vision ) who wanted the world to come to his doorstep, for a price. Many of the displays are totally themed environments- A giant octopus fighting a three story whale, an old main street with shops and automated vignettes, a maze of automated music making machines and the largest indoor carousel in the world.

The Infinity Room. Part of the actual House on the Rock.

 There is little to say about The House on the Rock because it almost defies a rational reason to exist. All I can do is again recommend that it be a priority stop for any middle American tourist.

Bizarre weapons displayed in a massive unpredictable collection.

Mr. Jordon's collection of marionettes (one case that is)

Japanese Garden ( Midwestern style) on the exterior of the house

I suppose one way to get the whacked appeal of this place is to post a few videos taken there which I will add to the blog one by one following this post.

Madison Wisconsin August 1st - Sept 11th 2013- Chapter One

"Mad City" some call it, a college town within striking distance of Milwaukee and Chicago, and rightly so because this town and surrounding area offer some of the strangest sites in Wisconsin. I have been working on a project in Madison from the 1st of August through September 11 ( when I flew back to Tampa, Fl) and have a few reports to post on this less thought of section of America.

The capital building downtown Madison during a Saturday farmer's market in early September.

The first chapter of this tale is about the cultural gulf between the midwest and Florida concerning graffiti. The laws in Madison are particularly harsh when it comes to graffiti. It is as if the policy makers looked around the country, saw some situations they did not like, and adjusted local laws to head off the street artists. In my view it would be far more interesting if every wall was a possibility and such activity were encouraged rather than vilified.
The landscape becomes a bit complex when some murals are actually sanctioned by the local "powers that be" in a sea of very low tolerance for the practice. But, with these obstacles in the path, there is something to be said of the artists that find those opportunities to create a work of public art.
Enter Dolla. With a little research Dolla found a business with a wall that is exempt from Madison's rather strict control over graffiti. Mother Fool's Coffeehouse - http://www.motherfools.com/ - has a wall that artists can use to bring their vision to the street, if only for a month or two, until the next mural goes  up ( or rather over ).

Dolla is an Orlando based artist by way of New Jersey. My conversations with him have lead to a deeper understanding of what modivates muralists to create these temporary works of public art. In many ways the drives are the same as what I recognize in myself, a desire to open up a conversation with the viewing public using unexpected techniques. So, here I will document his process, with a surprise ending.

Day 1- basic lay out. The wall and knee wall to the left had already been based out black.

Day 2- The mural begins in ernest. 

Once the mural was complete it was not the end of the project. A few weeks after the mural went up Dolla enlisted the aid of several coworkers to create a pile of gold treasure to leave at the mural site.

So a pile of items painted metallic gold was left like a offering to the neighborhood or the gold hoarding demon pictured in the mural. I especially liked this fluidly evolving work after the gold offering. It is a classic artist intervention and I only wish we could have had a camera on the site to see how the viewing public reacted.

The 2nd Multiple of The 13th Grape Series

The 2nd 13th Grape multiple is a sympathetic magik charm. They are made using clam shells from Cedar Key, Florida ( a fact that will make more sense later )and mailed from Madison, Wisconsin. The eyes are hand painted with lacrimal glands also rendered. Here is how they function-
"The Single Clam Lacrimal Shell Game"
1.Where a tear drop falls- place the shell over it, eye down, until tear is dry. This protects against the source of sorrow.
2. ONE TIME USE- Cry into shell as a lacrismal vase. Turn shell over and leave for 24 hours. This curses the source of sorrow.
They can also be displayed as works of art.

Solomon's Castle is no joke.....it's plenty jokes.

Some months back Kym O'Donnell and I visited Solomon's Castle, a long contemplated quest to one of Florida's more strange and remote locations. The visit was not a disappointment!
Solomon's Castle is located in central Florida pretty far from civilization. It is located at 4533 Solomon Road, Ona, Florida 33865.

The castle is also Solomon's family home and the grounds are filled with his eccentric sculptures made from recycled material and found objects. I was lucky enough to meet the artist and he took Kym O'Donnell and myself to his workshop. Solomon's workshop is very impressive ( wood working tools, welders, almost every tool to create you can think of)! And we spent a good deal of time taking it all in as Solomon busied himself with clear coating a few small works with a spray can. One gets the feeling that this man never stops working. Another notable part of this artist is that all his works are built on puns or jokes. As he showed us through his finished works and works in progress an endless flow of corny jokes stood in for description.

Solomon's Castle with "The Horse of a Different Color" in the foreground. Photo by Kym O'Donnell

My favorite moment came when, entering a newly constructed building Solomon called "The Alamo" which is not open to the general public, Solomon described the purpose of two wooden seats positioned at either side of a hallway perpendicular to the entrance to the main room. Solomon described the two wooden chairs as the final resting place for he and his wife who were to be taxidermed, sat across from each other and engaged in a staring contest for visitors to witness.

This made me think of The Art Guys project "Forever Yours" immediately. With all the jokes and puns to boot! So, if you are into warped humor, recycled materials and long drives in the wilds of Florida, Solomon's Castle is for you.

All Photos by Kym O'Donnell