Odditorium:Imagination & Creativity are Our Wings

This week, I'd take you to the very funny exhibition, "Odditorium". Before it, become a kid again?! (below, young Sadami?!) "Odditorium" displays hilarious and mysterious objects. Originally, objects were designed for right purposes. But primary school children and an Australian great picture book illustrator Shaun Tan have created funny tags for objects and turned them into laughable archiological bits & pieces. (*Can you guess what was used for?The actuall use will be at the end of this post! )

OK, some examples for you.
First, painful dental devices. According to Shaun, this is "The Replica Horse Teeth from Society of Dental Surgeons, London." Priopr to the 1700s, it is true that barbers did both haircut and surgery. But I've never heard that barbers learnt "dental" surgery with this replica (How did they learn sugery for humans with these odd replicas?! ) Another, at right hand, is, according to Ryan, 9yrs Stammore Public School pupil, "The Toother Outer." Ryan says the device actually won the first prize at the international odd competition in 1944 and a dentist started using it to pull out teeth. Ohhhh!!! Ouch!!


There we go! Second, jolly and playful objects or two balls.
Oh, my! This little ball is"elephant's wee. " According to Augustine aged 9, the brilliant treat for tea like cake!! Especially, an elephant or a cow wee fed on mango leaves tastes delicious?? ....gulp...Another, above, Shaun claims, "Bullock Hair Ball for Riot Control," substituted for iron cannonballs in the Middle Ages. Hey, how come these cannonballes opressed the public or Gov power abuse tools?!

Last, tadadada~~~, very sexy "Giant Griffin"!
Shaun asserts, Australian Bonza Motors made this hilariously huge Griffin as a "car hood ornament" for FJ "You-Lilttle-Beauity," when Bonza competed with US Crysler in 1948. Unfortunately, what a shame! Bonza Morters dissmissed the designer and chucked his plan into a bin.
Wow, I saw such a gramous griffin for the first time.Did you have a laugh? The exhibition has more objects.
Actually...
*It was a dental teaching aid.
*The object originally was a door knocker.
*Yes, it was really an elephant or a cow's wee, but used for dying on fabrics.
* Ooops, I missed out recording the actual use. Sorry!
*The female Griffin once was the guard of the entrance of Kings Cross Theatre.The narrative tags show primary school children's wonderful creativity and Shaun's brilliant sense of humour. They are our legends!!

Can you remember your young days? How much you enjoyed making up stories with just pebbles, a piece of stick, or ordinary things? How proudly you invented unique stuff that grown-ups would never get? "Creativity" and "imagination" are the wings that enable human beings to fly across a sky! Joy must come first. That's the spirit of painting and drawing, too. There's no secret to learn drawing and painting, but the power of imagination and creativity. I believe if you can go back to a child, you can draw!
So, pick up whatever the media at your hand and just have fun!
Happy painting!!

Finally, I'd really appreciate the courtesy of the Powerhouse Museum and Parramatta Heritage Centre's kind assistance to sketch the objects.

Odditorium:Imagination & Creativity are Our Wings