The Psychic / Vintage style circus themed art and other ramblings
The theme of my ART EXPLOSION contest this week is circus so I made some art myself, The Psychic. When thinking of the theme I considered all the possible interpretations that people might think of and did some googling to look at circus related images. One of the things I love the most are the vintage style adverts.
Another thing that came up in the searches a lot were the sideshows, and the animal acts which by todays standards are pretty morally reprehensible. I mean, is a monkey happy riding a bike?
Should a mother be throwing knives at her children for entertainment? 0_0
The lives of those featured in the freak shows are nowadays thought of as being pretty tragic, but my understanding is that many of those people featured had no opportunities for employment elsewhere, and were often thrown out by their families. Optimistically it may have been the best chance for them to find friends and companionship.
It's funny how we look back on these times with some disdain, but I can understand how before television or even the internet existed going to the circus and seeing these odd and eccentric people must have been extremely exciting (even though many turned out to be frauds)!
Myrtle Corbin entered the freak show circuit at the age of 13 and was billed as the “Four-Legged Girl from Texas.” Born with two separate pelvises situated side by side, Corbin’s four individual legs made her a very popular “oddity:” She had the ability to move her two inner legs, but they were too weak to sustain her weight or be used for walking.
Corbin’s fame in the circus directly led to several phony four-legged acts popping up in other freak shows worldwide. source:
I look forward to seeing what all the artists will bring to this weeks competition, there are already some really fun entries, and some quite terrifying clowns :p If you want to enter there's still time: ART EXPLOSION:CIRCUS
Gif unrelated but I found this while searching circus stuff and I thought it was pretty cool :D
Julia
The poor kid looks traumatised.
Interesting read. Thanks.
Wow, this post is really interesting to read and it have really unique essence and creative too and i really liked your idea means you chose an topic then prepared your art then searched for the related art then put that into the post with your thoughts, this made this post more explorative and amazing. Thanks for sharing and wishing you an great day. Stay blessed. 🙂
Awesome piece @juliakponsford !!! I love that style!!!!
Awesome images! I dont throw knives at my children, but I do throw them with my children ;-)
Lol that seems a bit safer :D
Swooooooon! How I love it all! I love all things vintage! So glad I discovered your blog! Following now🎀
What a good imagination you have, I congratulate your art is very avant-garde, you have so much facility to create very wonderful things, greetings and successes.
I remember when I was a child I went to the parks and circuses that came to my city where they presented attractions with optical illusions, witches' houses or acts with people with apparent deformity, they seemed terrifying but I kept looking at them, maybe that way of facing fear I was tempted to discover what was behind each act .. I spent a lot of time thinking and dreaming about those acts .. A great imagination and ability without doubt had the creators of these shows .. You made me remember a good stage of my children .. Greetings and success with the contest @juliakponsford!
The Psychic!
Good one. Somewhat reminds me of the High Priestess of the Tarot.
Awesome Contest.... I invited @revelationart to enter this contest. He is new to Steemit but an excellent oil painter in New York.
Oh how good you did this post because I felt repressed if I played the theme of the vitange style circus because when looking I found old photos and they seemed fabulous to take ideas but I was a bit afraid for what now questioned the circuses a lot from before and these days I saw the showman movie and I loved it and it happens that the next day you placed this theme for the contest