La Maison Noble de Bugnein

Our beloved cat, Greta Garbage, has delusions of grandeur. She is exceptionally selective when choosing her place of repose. Be it the toile quilt, the cashmere throw, or the gilded chair. The word pedestrian just doesn’t factor in her vocabulary. In fact, she practically art-directs her surroundings. Having said that, Miss Garbage would be quite at home in the jaw-dropping, stammer-inducing house of antique dealer and stylist Aurélien Deleuze. Situated just outside the small village of Bugnein, between Pau and Biarritz in the Pyrénées Atlantiques (sounds so much nicer in French), this stately home was originally built by an abbot in 1700 (who had been knighted by Louis XIV). Hardly a bad provenance. Aurélien is unquestionably the perfect custodian as can be seen by his impeccable taste (website below). He himself says: "This is not about temporary love, but one that is lifelong..."

Lit a la Polonaise

Aurelien's website
See more here (via Mixr)

Through the Looking Glass (Number XI)

The eleventh in the Through the Looking Glass series of photographs.

The Great Hall at Ragley Hall. The plaster work was designed by James Gibbs in 1750.
Image from here
Photographer: Tim Imrie-Tait

Lofty Heights

Have mercy...

Via here and Automatism
Image by photographer Pieter Estersohn

Steam Punk Safari

If Leonardo Da Vinci were a taxidermist... 

Obsolete Gallery director, Michel Oren, has this to say about Los Angeles-based sculptor Ron Pippin:

"Pippin wants instead to transcend the commonplace discards he picks up at swap meets, junk yards and thrift shops, to disfigure and at the same time ennoble them. His figures try to overcome their awkward and vulnerable status, the constraints of their bandaging, and in this sense they do not come from the Dada movement like Schwitters but from the predecessors of German Expressionism such as medieval German wooden pietas."

Using actual animal parts and mechanical augmentations, these unique bionic-like masterpieces are indicative of a soaring imagination, exceptional craftsmanship and a deep understanding of the often precarious relationship between Science, Art and Nature.

Research from here
Read more here

Charlotte Rampling

Never mind Helen of Troy.... here is a face and gaze that could launch a thousand anythings. Somewhat aristocratic, beguiling yet inaccessible, and of course... those eyes. Charlotte Rampling remains an absolute enigma.

Charlotte Rampling and Sam Waterston in Three

With Richard Burton

With Woody Allen

From The Night Porter

Images from here, here, here and here

Adam in Wonderland

“It sounds cliché but I was really blown away as a child by the Haunted Mansion ride and the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride at Disney World,” remembers Philadelphia artist Adam Wallacavage. Best known for his Gothic Octopi chandeliers, this quote rather sums up the weird and wonderful world of Wallacavage as captured by Todd Selby. He also quizzically notes:

“I have a collection of mounted two-headed dogs, the world's longest cat tail that I got from an old sideshow, and a live fruit bat that I keep as a pet in my attic, but my favorite curio is my swimming pool. I live in an old Victorian brownstone in the city and my back yard is insanely tiny. I had a pool built that is eight feet in diameter but 25 feet deep. I use it to practice free diving and it is lined with cast coral and is stocked with fish. You can jump off the top of my house into it... I made all that up, but it would be cool to own the world's longest cat tail, right?”

No doubt, Adam... no doubt!

Adam's Website

Todd Selby's Website

Additional info here