It's Never Too Late To Create Something Great

Tim Hunkin is a writer, engineer, sculptor, cartoonist, and television personality. He takes old arcade games and reinvents them into whimsical art pieces that reflect our banal existances. Hunkin's work is available and playable at The Under The Pier Show on Southwold Pier, Suffolk, UK--delightful.

For Amusement Only - documentary on The Under The Pier Show by Tracy Island TV


Is It Art? - The arcade critic will tell you if your object is art or not. He reminds me of a guy I unfortunately dated once.


Tony Duquette (1914-1999) was an amazing artist and designer who created fantastical jewelery, sculptures, rooms, structures, sets, and landscapes, well into his 80s.

When he was in his 70s, he bought an abandoned synagogue on Geary Blvd. in San Francisco (the building had had once housed the infamous and tragic Jim Jones People's Temple) and created what he called a "celebrational environment" dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi. I used to admire this building while visiting The Fillmore next door. Unfortunately and also tragically, the building burned down in 1989. All that's left are some beautiful photgraphs of Duqeutte's work.

He was once quoted as saying, "Decorating is not a surface performance, It's a spiritual impulse, inborn and primordial." He would go on to create a new installation, "The Phoenix Rising From His Flames," in Los Angeles, to celebrate his 80th birthday.



Saint Francis installation photos from the Tony Duquette site.

Henri Matisse (1869-1954) created paper cut outs for the last fifteen years of his life. He had survived cancer but was in a wheelchair and could no longer physically paint. With the help of assistants to paint the paper, Matisse did the cutting and worked on various compositions until he was satisfied. I like his cut-outs even more than his paintings. And his paintings are incredible. Here's a little film of an exhibit of collages for the Jazz series he created in 1947. Some of his paintings and drawings are on hand as well. Miles Davis playing in the background.


La Gerbe by Henri Matisse, 1953 (collage from Matisse: Life and Painting site)