May 19, 2010

Bas relief of the insectoid kind.

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It's so strange that insects can make such artful things. Unthinking, of course. And yet....

30 comments:

LonewackoDotCom said...

It's funny to see "liberals" making marks all over tea parties fave Rand Paul.

I'd like to think that by the time they're done he, the 'partiers, and the libertarian movement are going to be sawdust. But, they're probably going to blow it by playing the race card and by concentrating only on white businesses. See also this.

Here's Rand Paul on Maddow's show Part 1 and Part 2.

former law student said...

Victory for anomymous commenters in ND Cal.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/05/19/BA081DHDL2.DTL

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Minimalist.. the kind the Vogels wouldn't pass up.

William said...

It's passing strange to see how humans can observe beauty and patterns in the random chaos of creation.

former law student said...

Sorry, I thought this was an "open thread."

MamaM said...

Me to son who is laughing at the comments regarding Olympic mascots on Drudge link: "Go to Althouse, but stop at the bug designs first."

Son, stopping at bug designs: "Now that's just weird."

Truly it is.

Unknown said...

How Freudian! The bas carvings strongly resemble the images of Scutigera coleoptrata, which would naturally feed on the creatures which made those carvings.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

My mother is up from DR and insist I see her tomorrow.. she is planning a trip to Providence to see her brother next week and she wants me to go with her.

She will start her interrogation, I'll go mute.. and she'll go on to tell me that I'm going to die alone.

I'm her biggest disappointment.

Penny said...

Lem? Mom is right.

You will die alone.

Something tells me that suits you just fine.

You strike me as one of the last people I think I know who would even consider taking another person along for the death ride.

What the hell. We ride in one at a time, and we ride out the very same way.

Jason said...

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth--
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches' broth--
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What had that flower to do with being white,
The wayside blue and innocent heal-all?
What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?--
If design govern in a thing so small.

--Robert Frost

As my whimsy leads me.. said...

More on bug carvings in 3 hours than on Elie Wiesel all day. What does that say about us? (I like Elie Wiesel, but here I am commenting on the amazing wood art.) Did those bugs kill the tree?

Toy

Penny said...

"I'm her biggest disappointment."

Yet not ONE word from you about your own disappointment with her.

I admire your broad shoulders, Lem. It can't be easy.

As my whimsy leads me.. said...

Lem, tell your mom that you are highly admired and appreciated here!

Toy

Penny said...

"It's passing strange to see how humans can observe beauty and patterns in the random chaos of creation."

Amen, brother, Bill!

And stranger still when the "random", if tracked, becomes predictable.

ricpic said...

To make an artful thing
Takes more than thinking or trying
(Though it takes them, too).
To make an artful thing
Means giving in to the current
That runs through everything.

Then the maker that makes takes on
(As do all the artless makers)
The flow from The Maker and
Goes with the Flow
(To use an awful phrase, that is nevertheless apropos)
Until the flow is spent (Oh Heaven Sent!)
And then relinquishes the gift
And then his hand does lift
And then the thing is done.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Going through some art exhibits I always find it strange how so many humans can make such unartful things even when they're thinking about it.

lemondog said...

Appears sunken relief vs bas relief

traditionalguy said...

This reminds me that forests of mighty trees rule. Some live a thousand years. To get them out of the way so other life forms can find some space too,God sends out little wood eating insects. Hurray for artistic wood beetles and termites.

Anonymous said...

God is so creative.

jimspice said...

These Hylurgopinus rufipes are obviously paying homage to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. BEHOLD his noodley appendages.

former law student said...

Lem's mother lives in the Dominican Republic?

Wince said...

I'm not sure those patterns are entirely random. It appears the pre-existing bark pattern helped determine the labyrinth.

Many of the pathways appear to radiate from what were knot-holes in the original bark, probably where the insects were first able to enter the tree with ease.

Calypso Facto said...

Maybe it's an alien intelligence trying to communicate with us, ala crop circles.

Or maybe it's just the basis for a really cool new tatoo...

Christy said...

Looks like an efficient attack on the downed limb to me. Nothing random about it at all. Still and all, a beauteous sight.

dbp said...

These designs are clearly produced by tiny visitors from outer space.

The real question is, what are they trying to tell us?

LegosnEggos said...

This is quite remarkable. I enjoy your photographic observations.

Schorsch said...

Insects operate from a set of rigid rules, with room for variation and improvisation around the edges. As do artists.

Peter Hoh said...

I have a piece of insect art drying in a relative's yard. Should be nice when displayed. I hope she doesn't throw it out before I get back there.

rmarkob said...

Very cool. Reminds me of Maori (NZ) tattoo art.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of a circuit board.