Erik Johansson's Impossibly Amazing and Mind Boggling Scenes

This is the amazing work of Erik Johansson, a photographer and retoucher from Sweden who works out of Germany. Johansson's impossible scenes are full of fantasy and magical realism and they remind of the mind boggling work of Belgian photographer Christophe Gilbert who has been featured on LD before. Trippy stuff.

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Hilarious Condom Ad Banned in Australia for being too Sleazy

This condom commercial for Four Seasons Condoms was banned in Australia because it was deemed too sexy and sleazy; I've seen sleazier. I think the ad is cute, dumb and hilarious all wrapped into one! Lol.

Fernando Botero's Jovially Mischievous Large People After Diego Velazquez

Menina (After Velazquez), Fernando Botero (1978)
Fernando Botero's usually genial subjects are comical, satirical and sardonic. And he has joined other contemporary artistic uber giants such as Picasso, Dali and Francis Bacon in paying tribute to the genius of Diego Velazquez. I find Botero's "fat" (to use the artist's own word) portrayals of some of the 17th century Spanish Master's most recognized and significant artwork involving royalty and court notables, jovially mischievous, vivacious and wildly entertaining. I think the work is Boterismo at it's very best!

Las Meninas (detail)

Las Meninas (detail)

Las Meninas, Diego Velazquez (1656)

Vallecas the Child (after Velázquez) - Fernando Botero (1959)

Vallecas the Child (after Velázquez) - Fernando Botero (1971)

Portrait of Francisco Lezcano or The "Niño de Vallecas (Vallecas the Child), Diego Velazquez (1643–1645)

After Velazquez, Fernando Botero (1988)

Infanta Margarita Teresa in silver dress, Diego Velazquez (1656)

After Velazquez, Fernando Botero (2005)

Infanta Margarita Teresa in blue dress,  Diego Velazquez (1659)

Juan de Calabazas after Velazquez,  Fernando Botero (1975)

Juan de Calabazas, (The Jester Calabasillas), Diego Velazquez (1637–1639) Sources: [via][via][via]

The Death (and Martyrdom) of Lady Gaga by Robert Wilson after Jacques-Louis David's 'The Death of Marat'

Experimental theater director Robert Wilson's recreation of The Death of Marat with Lady Gaga as the tragic protagonist. The portrait of the pop mega star by Wilson is one of six to be displayed at the Louvre in Paris starting November 11th .

N’ayant pû me corrompre il m’ont assassiné (Unable to corrupt me, they murdered me) is written on the makeshift writing table of this particular copy of the painting (there are several copies in existence) and also on Wilson's depiction of messianic Gaga's own excellent martyrdom.

The Death of Marat is a famous painting by French Neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) of the French revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat who was stabbed to death in his bathtub in 1793.

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Shocking, "In Your Face" Street Graffiti Portraits to Fight Breast Cancer

Poignant, powerful, strong and shocking are some of the adjectives I'd use to describe the images for this breast cancer awareness campaign by Advertising Agency JWT from Brazil. ACCamargo Cancer Center: The anticancer paste up is an "in your face" message. It uses the medium of graffiti that is often universally employed as a means to express such phenomenon as sociopolitical discontent but is seldom re-purposed to raise awareness - in such vivid, impactful details - about a scourge that is affecting so many women all over the world. I had never seen graffiti utilized in this manner. I like it!

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Realistic Paintings of an Aged Superhero - Andreas Englund's Engaging Portraits

Realistic images of old, fragile superheroes seem utterly counter-intuitive to those of us who find the existence of fictional, costumed - and youthful, out of this world strong - superheroes intuitive. Andreas Englund, who is a Swedish artist, has created a series of oil-based paintings portraying the life of an aging superhero that is funny, engaging and very emotive.

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Amazingly Fantastic Animated GIF Images of Banksy's Work

Serbian artist ABVH has made it possible for us to appreciate Banksy's work in a whole new light by turning the British street artist's work into fantastic moving images. I have published several posts of GIF images as well as Banksy's creations on Lunatica previously, so it should come as no surprise if I declare my total admiration for this amazingly fantastic project!

I know that this type of "guerrilla" art is not appreciated by everyone; in fact, there are many people out there who would argue that Banksy and other street artists like him are nothing but criminals and vandals. Point well taken. I can't expect everyone to share my likes and interests as that would make for a very boring world. And if we are to believe Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) who maintained that boredom is the root of all evil, then by all means people! Please take a couple of seconds of your time to let me know how you feel about Banksy and his choice of venues to exhibit his craft on the poll placed on the upper right hand side of the blog! I'm really, really curious to know how you feel.

Poll results - 8 votes were cast. Six votes "love" Banksy (75%) and 2 "like" him (25%). Not as big a sample as I had hoped, but thank you very much to those who participated.

Source: ABVH's Tumblr