3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Designer Covers $500,000 Gold Ring with a Piece of His Own Skin
Italian Artist Turns River Stones into Life-Like Works of Art
French Company Offers Thrill-Seekers the Chance to Be Kidnapped

Designer Covers $500,000 Gold Ring with a Piece of His Own Skin

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 04:11 AM PST

The Forget Me Knot gold ring created by Icelandic fashion designer Sruli Recht is not your usual piece of luxury jewelry. The artist had a strip of his own skin surgically removed and mounted on a 24-karat-gold band.

We’ve featured some pretty bizarre jewelry on Oddity Central in the past, like the human-bone accessories of Columbine Phoenix, the finger and toe nail-clipping jewels of Rachel Betty Case, or the human hair necklaces of Kerry Howley, but Sruli Recht has managed to one up them all with his human skin ring. The eccentric designer shocked everyone when he decided to undergo surgery and have a strip of skin removed from his abdomen, to use on his very unique Forget Me Knot ring. After the operation, the 110 by 10 millimeters piece of skin, with the hair still intact, was salted and tanned before being mounted on the gold piece of jewelry. You can own this little part of Sruli Recht for the “small” price of €350,000.

But wait, there’s more. Along with the flesh-encrusted ring, the buyer also receives a DNA certificate as proof that the skin actually belongs to Sruli Recht, as well as a DVD documentary of the making-of process, the bizarre surgery and interviews with the involved team. If you have a strong stomach and are really curious about Recht’s skin removal procedure, you can watch it on YouTube. I could have post it here, but I thought the photos of the Forget Me Knot ring were disturbing enough.

Icelandic designer Sruli Recht is well known for his collection of bizarre jewelry. Some of his earlier works include unusual materials such as stillborn lamb leather and silk extracted from a spider gland implanted in a goat.

via Dezeen

Designer Covers $500,000 Gold Ring with a Piece of His Own Skin was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Italian Artist Turns River Stones into Life-Like Works of Art

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:47 AM PST

River rocks may not seem very interesting to you, but once you see what Italian rock painter Ernestina Gallina can do with them, I’ll bet you’ll see them in a new light.

Ernestina Gallina, from Cenestino, Italy has had a thing for the arts ever since she was just a child. She loved painting, drawing and modelling, but because her family never encouraged her to develop her skills, she never attended art school and she only exercised her artistic talents as a hobby. In 1987, she and her family moved to Nairobi, Kenya, where she discovered a yet unknown world – that of nature and animals. Then, one day at the library, she stumbled upon a book on rock painting, and became intrigued about how simple river stones could be transformed into nature-inspired works of art. It gave her the chance to combine her passion for the arts with her love of wildlife, so she started rock painting and never looked back.

After honing her skills for three years, Ernestina Gallina started teaching others the secrets of rock painting, and in 2003 she founded Italy’s first rock painting club. Although rock painting as an art form has been around for a very long time, this Italian master has taken it to new heights with her series of incredibly realistic “living stones”.

All photos © Ernestina Gallina

Source: Pietre Vive

Italian Artist Turns River Stones into Life-Like Works of Art was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

French Company Offers Thrill-Seekers the Chance to Be Kidnapped

Posted: 22 Jan 2013 01:18 AM PST

A basic abduction package in France will cost you about $1,300. No, not the ransom, but actually getting yourself kidnapped.

If you're looking for an experience straight out of a Hollywood movie, Eastern France is the place you need to be, where a small company called Ultime Realite provides the unique service. The basic package consists of being seized by strangers, bound, gagged and bundled into a car, and kept in a dark cellar for four hours. Advanced packages include tailor-made services such as boat chases, helicopter escapes, and being kept for longer periods of time.

The idea sounds like something out of the Michael Douglas movie, The Game, where a company provides the services of making you believe that your reputation, finances and safety are at risk, but leaves you with a deep appreciation for life at the end. I suppose you could say Ultime Realite does the same; you are bound to appreciate life more after the experience of being kidnapped. According to the company's website, "You will go through the real sensations of violence, terror, and fear of a real kidnapping – a psychological shock that you won't forget in a hurry." As a customer at Ultime Realite, you can choose exactly the kind of scenario you want, but you will have no idea when or where disaster will strike. The contract states that "we will follow you for a few days. At an opportune moment, in the street or elsewhere, we kidnap you."

Liam Neeson in Taken

Georges Cexus is the 30-year-old owner of Ultime Realite, and has been running the company for three years now. He gets at least two orders a day – most of his customers are are top-level executives addicted to adrenaline. The experience is viewed as an extreme alternative to other thrilling sports like bungee jumping and skydiving. Georges is careful to maintain the maximum time of incarceration at 11 hours, after which he says that the novelty might wear off. Nobody is ever physically hurt during the kidnappings, he assures. "That's not part of the plan," he says. "Together we think about the question of physical and psychological limitations. What I offer is a totally controlled experience that allows you to go further in your personal vision, in your experiences. Anything is possible. I identify what a customer wants and then try to put it into action." Of course, if the customer feels he/she has reached their endurance threshold at any point, they can end the game by using a previously agreed password. "Let's say it will really be about bringing to life the client's worst fear, the thing that's lurking in the back of his mind and he's never dared to talk about," says Georges.

There are other experiences to be had at Ultime Realite as well, apart from being kidnapped. They can choose to lead a manhunt for a fugitive, be tracked by a bounty hunter, attend their own funeral, spend a night in a morgue, or try their hand at shady operations like drug smuggling. The whole package of experiences seems exhilarating; something that normal, everyday people might never get to experience otherwise. But it's not so great for passersby or witnesses, who have no idea that a fake event is taking place before their eyes. The service isn't strictly illegal, but a spokesperson for the French police said that the company would have to warn local authorities in case of emergency calls. "With regard to police and penal code, there's no reason for us to ban this service, as the victim is consenting which means there's no crime." But yes, things could get very sticky if someone reports a kidnapping and the police get involved.

Ultimate Realite via Reuters

French Company Offers Thrill-Seekers the Chance to Be Kidnapped was originally posted at OddityCentral.com