Amazing sculptor and automata creator Thomas Kuntz, legendary pin-up artist Olivia De Berardinis, and master event creator Bob Self, have teamed up to create an occult cabaret and bohemian art salon where practitioners and connoisseurs of the darker things in life can meet, mingle, and create!

They call it Spirit Drawing, and you can join them on June 3rd, 2017 in Los Angeles.

From the Spirit Drawing kickstarter:

Wait... What? Drawing Ghosts Is A Thing?

It is now!

Calling all fans of classic horror movies, haunted houses, Victorian spiritualism, and Grand Guignol theater! With your support, the inaugural "Spirit Drawing" get-together will take place in Los Angeles one night only when darkness falls on Saturday, June 3, 2017.

Seriously... A Haunted Art Happening?

Bob Self (Publisher of Baby Tattoo Books), Thomas Kuntz (Sculptor & Master Automaton Builder), and Olivia De Berardinis (Legendary Pinup Artist) had an idea... to gather a group of artists and magicians for an evening of creative inspiration and spooky entertainment.

"Spirit Drawing" will be a first-of-its-kind occult cabaret and bohemian art salon where practitioners and connoisseurs of the darker things in life can meet, mingle, and create.

You don't have to be an artist or a magician to attend. In fact, there are only two prerequisites for ticket holders. You must be 18 or older and you must have an appreciation for things that go bump in the night.

If you are a curious and adventuresome person • If you love art and/or magic • If you enjoy the thrill of new experiences - You will fit right in with the ghosts and ghouls at our event.

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Our pals at Baby Tattoo are kickstarting this fantastic collection by Olivia De Bernardinis and creature creator Jordu Schell!

I absolutely love the work that Bob and the team at Baby Tattoo have been putting out. This collection by famed pin-up artist De Bernardinis looks amazing!

This from the KS page:

When Bob Self of Baby Tattoo Books decided to throw an art exhibition/party this upcoming Halloween at the Oceanside Museum of Art, he figured he’d invite some of the world’s most impossibly sexy women and a bunch of beautifully grotesque monsters. For those who cannot attend the glamorous/grotesque soiree in person, Bob is offering a lovely/hideous art book to commemorate the occasion.

Beauties Beasts showcases a visually stunning assortment of pinup legend Olivia De Berardini’s noteworthy paintings (including many of the famous images created over the years she was a regular contributor to the classic, old-fashioned, okay-with-artistic-nudity, Playboy magazine) and Jordu Schell’s eye-stabbing creature creations that elevate schlock and shock-value aesthetics to a level that unquestionably achieves fine-art status.

According to Bob, “This is a project in search of an amped-up mob of creativity-loving enthusiasts who want to rally around culturally questionable, gender-specific ideas about radically glamorized women and profoundly demonized men. Big publishers underserve the type of hungry audience that is ready to gobble up a lovingly mixed concoction of pinup culture and Hollywood-inspired monster lore, but an independent publisher like Baby Tattoo can deliver the goods through the mad science of Kickstarter. It’s alive!

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My friends at Baby Tattoo are running their first ever kickstarter, around the launch of Brian Kesinger's fantastical Dressing Your Octopus.

Kesinger's Otto and Victoria return, they've been in illustrated adventures, coloring books, and have travelled around the world. This installment lets you imagine their destiny on your own, as the octopus and his companion become paper dolls.

Here is some more info from Baby Tattoo:

If you long for the simplicity of toys made from paper, and the tactile satisfaction of D.I.Y. scissorsmanship, then you owe it to yourself to point your digital device to DressingYourOctopus.com and put your electronic funds to some good, old-fashioned, analog use.

Dress your companions in stunning costumes, then take them on amazing adventures! We provide the ink-on-paper; you provide the imaginative fuel.

Become one of the first backers of the Dressing Your Octopus paper doll project on Kickstarter, and choose rewards that range from a pixel perfect wardrobe delivered digitally for only $5... to original art created by Brian Kesinger just for you!

Early Bird Pricing on the Softcover Edition Book Limited Edition Hardcover Book with Metal Corners Deluxe Boxed Edition (with a Bounty of Goodies) A Day at the Aquarium with Brian Kesinger Original Art by Brian Kesinger

Dressing Your Octopus, via Kickstarter Read the rest

Allan Amato, the photographer behind The Temple of Art, is kick starting a new book with our friends at Baby Tattoo! S L I P: Naked In Your Own Words is a study of folks who pose nude for a living discussing their experience.

From the KS page:

Slipping past the inflammatory nature of the naked form, we celebrate with words and images, the courage of those who reveal the most.

Three years ago, I began an informal nude series, featuring models, artists and performers I'd worked with and befriended in LA. My goal was to create a non-presentational kind of image that can't simply be objectified and dismissed. I wanted to explore something slippery, feral, harder to define. And as a person wholly committed to cowering behind the camera, I desperately wanted to know more about their motivation, their story.

For those who brave the risk of being vulnerable on camera, the negative aspect of this experience is omnipresent: the shaming, judgement, stigma that is all too often deemed acceptable to level at those who express themselves via the medium of their bodies.

But there must be a positive element as well; otherwise why do it at all? And while confronting the darker side is necessary and important, I'd rather the beauty not get wholly overshadowed. The result is a book dedicated to unravelling the complicated relationship we have to nudity, self-expression and commerce.

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Recently, a merry gang of happy mutants gathered for the ninth and final time to revel in Bob Self's incredible Baby Tattooville event.

Over the past nine years, artists, entertainers, creative minds and enthusiasts have been gathering together at Baby Tattooville to create art, and to celebrate one another while spending 72 hours in a reality where everyone is a kindred spirit. I have never been fortunate enough to be able to attend, and now I may never have a chance: Bob decided this installment will be their last. Boing Boing has been following these events since 2007, and I should have paid attention sooner.

This year Baby Tattooville featured Anthony Ausgang, Sas Christian, Olivia De Berardinis, Ron English, Camille Rose Garcia, Bosko Hrnjak, Marion Peck, KRK Ryden, Mark Ryden, and Isabel Samaras. I am certain you'll recognize a lot of familiar faces in these photos. Some of my favorite performers were there, too! Musician Marquis Howell II, and the fabulous contortionist Bonnie Morgan were among them.

As you can see from these brilliant photographs by Mark Berry, Baby Tattooville No. 9 was amazing.

Congratulations to Bob and his entire team! What an amazing run! Bob is still planning events and you can participate in the magic.

In fact, if magic is what you want I suggest you join us at Beyond Brookledge. I've already bought my ticket! This time I don't want to miss out.

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In the garden behind Tio's Tacos, the owner has created a phenomenal folk art installation.

Starting tomorrow the Oceanside Museum of Art plays host to Weekend of Wonder co-creator Baby Tattoo's Carnival of Astounding Art! Read the rest