6 April, 2012

Sebastian Horsley Crucifixtion

Filed under: Art, Video — Tags: , , — spiderwebdesign @ 15:37

Because it’s Easter I’d thought I’d share this youtube clip of the artist, Sebastian Horsley, being crucified.

The video is totally real and quite unnerving, although you don’t actually see any blood. He doesn’t shout out when the nails through his hands, which means he must of had quite a high pain threshold – or been totally off his tits on smack at the time (both are equally likely).

There is also a clip on youtube of the cross breaking and him fall off – again, not planned – and is even more disturbing. Or funny. Depending on your point of view.

It was filmed as a sort of art installation and Horsley had wanted to call it: “Is There a God? Or Am I Too Fat? ”

And as Horsley said himself:

“I have to say, Easter never really meant anything to me. That season when we remind each other of the judicial murder of a Jewish revolutionary two thousand years ago by distributing chocolate eggs to the children of people we dislike.”

So Happy Easter everyone!

11 March, 2012

How to Get On Pinterest

The current social media buzz is all about Pinterest. It’s working on an invite only basis at the moment, but you can also send a request directly to Pinterest and go on their invites waiting list.

So what is Pinterest? Quite simply, it’s a virtual pin board where you can save your favourite images. You can organise the pictures into categories. And that’s about it. Sounds shit but I must admit, I do sort of like the idea though.

How can you get onto Pinterest? As mentioned before, you can send a request to the site itself. This takes about a week. I know this as I applied last weekend and got an invite today (even though I was already a member, through sneaking in via other means…).

The other way (and this is the real way I got in), is to pester your mates. Every Pinterest user can invite an unlimited amount of friends to join. Surely you must know someone who’s already on there? You can also plead and beg on social networking platforms – facebook, twitter, Google+ etc. I had to resort to this method as well, seeing as I don’t have any real flesh and blood friends.

If anyone wants to get an invite – just drop me an email – I’m happy to send out invites (even to complete strangers, yo).

I quite like the experience so far – the interface is clean and intuitive – although from what I’ve seen so far, you can’t rearrange your pictures manually after pinning them to your board.

My main gripe with the site is when you join up it warns you to “be nice” and “no nudity”. Which pretty much pisses my original intentions up the wall. (My first Pinterest board was to be a massive wall of tits).

I’m also a bit confused on the true purpose of Pinterest; should it be used to house a collection of images – where each board has a high visual impact? Should it be used as an influence map? Or should it be used as a collection related images that links back to other interesting sites and articles on the internet?

With that in mind, my first board is somewhat limited by comparison: http://pinterest.com/spiderwebdesign/icons

30 October, 2011

Tom Fogarty Poem

Filed under: Art — Tags: , , — spiderwebdesign @ 15:47
I’ve had some dark days (and nights) recently, and I don’t want this to turn in to some dreary emo/gothic blog. So with that in mind, I’m going to take a little break – until I have some funny stories to tell again.
I’ll leave you with this – it’s a little poem I wrote and it sums up my life rather well I think:

(back soon I hope)

GG Allin, Murder Junkies
I like midgets, also monkies

Bovva boots, skinhead
Withnail & I, Dawn of The Dead

I’m quite well endowed, but not one to boast
Jumping in puddles, eating toast

Compulsive blogger, I do music reviews
My name is Tom and I have tattoos

A bit of a cynic, I like a good moan
I go to the pub, I drink alone

Not much of a looker but alright at a glance
I go to shady venues, I love to dance

I can be clever, but never a snob
Usually crass, a borderline yob

A web designer but a right mess I make
Hulk Hogan, Jake The Snake

Happy when drunk, you’ll find me joking
If not I’ll be outside, in a corner smoking

PHP coding, I create lots of bugs
Staying up late, taking drugs

Video nasties, zombie flicks
Quite the loner, I never meet chicks

Baldie head, could pass as a monk
I listen to heavy metal, ska and punk

Don’t read my mind – my thoughts are obscene
I wear specs but my eyes are green

I dwell in Camberwell in a tiny flat
I live on my own but I’d quite like a cat

Don’t raid my place, you might find a stash
Too lazy to shave, often with ‘tache

I like The Ramones, The Pogues and The Doors
Usually single… but I could be yours


20 October, 2011

Tom Fogarty – Business Cards & Stickers!

Filed under: Art, Photos, Photoshop — Tags: , — spiderwebdesign @ 23:25

Sometimes I can be almost creative, but not quite. I was bored the other day so I decided to make myself some business cards. I was so pleased with the results that I decided to get some stickers made as well. I did this for no particular reason, other than I was bored. I could never actually give them out to anyone and keep a straight face…

Being a narcissistic egomaniac, I decided to use myself as a background image, using this photoshopped picture of me I made back in January (another example of my twisted sense of “art”)

http://tomfogarty.com/blog/tattoos-2011/

Then I used the “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” viral campaign as a basis for the 2-tone print effect. The idea for this was also inspired by the skull stickers I kept seeing dotted around London a while back (I never did find out where they came from or what they meant):

http://tomfogarty.com/blog/geek-skull-sticker/

Et voila!

I got them printed for free online. I took the time to make them at the right high-res dpi, converted them into the right file format (.ai), correct dimensions including a 3mm bleed mark around the edge.

They came out shit.

I could have done a better job printing them out myself and cutting them out with scissors left-handed and with my eyes closed.

Guess there’s no such thing as a free lunch, eh?

11 September, 2011

Prison Tattoo Video

Filed under: Art, Tattooist, Tattoos — Tags: , , , — spiderwebdesign @ 12:01

Someone sent me this video via youtube (@splattermac) because it made them “think of me”.

It’s about 6 minutes long, but is well worth watching – it shows New York tattoo artist, Scott Campbell, making a prison-style tattoo machine and tattooing his friend in the park.

Keep it real!

31 July, 2011

Secret Garden Party 2011 – Roundup

Filed under: Art, Music — Tags: , , — spiderwebdesign @ 13:30

I went to Secret Garden Party last weekend (21st – 24th July) and had a pretty good time. Secret Garden Party is a fairly small but excellent music/art festival in Huntingdon, near Cambridge. The lineup included Blondie, Leftfield, I am Kloot, Guillemots, Alabama 3 and Joana and The Wolf.

I went on my own and didn’t end up lying naked, face down in a ditch (as predicted). Neither did I end up sitting alone in a big field, sobbing (although it was a near run thing).

The idea was to climb over the fence as the festival was sold out and I didn’t want to pay silly ebay prices. This idea quickly disappeared when I saw the height of the fence. Luckily, I was able to buy a ticket off of a girl I shared a cab with from the train station. She also advised me that security was very strict – they would be checking bags – and that glass bottles and spirits would not be allowed. This didn’t bode well for me, as I was carrying 2 bottles of Scotch and a massive hunting knife. Please note – I didn’t have the knife because I’m a mad knifeman or anything, but because Ray Mears and Crocodile Dundee reckon you need one to survive in the woods. Anyway – wisely I decided to drink as much of one bottle in the cab and stash it at the bottom of my bag – along with the knife – and hope for the best. The other bottle I decided to stuff down my pants. What I didn’t realise is that there would be a massive walk after the cab ride to actually get to the main doors. I do like a nice countryside walk but not with a heavy rucksack, half a bottle of Scotch inside me and another bottle of Scotch stuffed down my pants, aggravating my cock and balls.

As luck would have it, security let me straight through. Possibly because I was very drunk and appeared to have a huge erection.

I stayed up until dawn every day, going to bed at about 7am, and getting up again 2 hours later at 9am (this is normal behaviour for me at festivals). I saw lots of bands and DJs and did a lot of dancing. The highlights were Joana and The Wolf, Molotov Jukebox and Leftfield.

Some of the DJs were brilliant, although I can’t remember their names, and played some obscure Doors tracks, ska, hiphop, drum & base etc.

Attire was pretty much anything goes. Lots of masks, face paint and animal outfits, although lots of girls just wore bikinis (which I thoroughly approve of).

I’d heard rumours that Secret Garden Party is a total drugs binge, and I’m glad to say that these rumours were true. Across 2 days I had 12 Es, a bag of speed and quite a bit of ketamine. And I still managed to survive, unlike certain female singers I could mention who died on the same weekend…

There was lots to see and do there. I particularly liked the “healing area”. They grabbed a drunk man who was staggering past, so that they could help him. He was promptly sick, fell over and started pissing and shitting himself. God bless those healing hands…

14 May, 2011

Art Makes You Mad

Filed under: Art, Funny Stories — Tags: , , , , , — spiderwebdesign @ 16:21

Everyone knows that some sad and tormented souls have been driven to create art through the years – Van Gough, Lautrec, Bacon et al. But that’s nothing compared to the strange assortment of freaks who work in art shows on children’s television.

Tony Hart was fairly louche and limp-wristed so I’ll leave him alone, but to see Rolf Harris in action, is to see a madman in his element. He did knock out some decent Australian landscapes with a paint brush though. Fair dos.

Mark Speight always seemed fairly normal and trendy – if maybe a little too over-enthusiastic. That was until his girlfriend drowned in a boiling tub of bath water after a cocaine binge. Mark hung himself at a train station in 2008.

And then there was Neil Buchanan of Art Attack! fame – the bloke who made really big pictures out of hay and dog shit and stuff. Even so, Neil always seemed the best of a band bunch to me. That was until today, when I found out that Neil has grown his hair and is now playing in a heavy metal band called Marseille. I’m really not making this up – check out the website for a laugh(Neil is on the left).

31 March, 2011

Pigeon Shit and Franko B

Filed under: Art, Funny Stories — Tags: , — spiderwebdesign @ 21:28

Today was National Cleavage Day in the UK, and I must be honest, I’m a bit disappointed with the outcome. Seriously, I didn’t see a decent pair all day – not enough effort, ladies!

I was cheered up a bit at lunch time, however. I was on Lower Road Market at Waterloo, and I saw Franko B walking along, taking his dog for a walk. For those not in the know, Franko B is a heavily tattooed performance artist – his work features lots of nudity and lots of blood; real blood. It’s very dark, disturbing subject matter, but very powerful. I reckon Franko is a very interesting, if somewhat troubled, individual. This is his website (adult content warning!). I’m probably the only person in the world who would recognise him walking his dog!

Soon after that, a pigeon did a shit on my head.

Actually, the majority of it hit some other bloke and then the spray rebounded onto me and another fella. 3 strangers plastered in the poo of some renegade bird. We all swore then burst out laughing. Then we wiped each other down. Sounds odd, but it was a really uplifting “happy to be alive” moment. We didn’t start sucking each others dicks or anything though.

I was supposed to be going out tonight with a really beautiful, funny and intelligent girl – but it got cancelled, alas. Still a good day though.

1 February, 2011

Gargoyle with Stretched Vagina

Filed under: Art, Funny Stories, Photos — Tags: , , , — spiderwebdesign @ 22:05

Here’s a sketch I did as a teenager of a gargoyle with a streched open vagina. And why not, eh?

I sketched it out in pencil first. I then repeated this process again, only in ink. Finally, I made it out of of clay.

Inexplicably, I gave it to my mum as a novelty ashtray, for a gift on Mother’s Day. This is even more weird when you consider my mum doesn’t even smoke.

Still, she’s still kept it t this very day, however. Although it not on the mantelpiece or anything.

31 January, 2011

Youtube Channel – Spider Web Design

Filed under: Announcements, Art, Video — Tags: , , , — spiderwebdesign @ 20:55

I set up a youtube channel over the weekend – partly because I had a creative vibe going on for a while there – but mainly because I was bored:

http://www.youtube.com/spiderwebdesign

I’ve only got 2 shoddy videos on there at the moment; one was something that I was forced to make while at university in 2007 (you can tell I was forced by the sarcastic tone of it), and I’ve already shared that one on here before: http://tomfogarty.com/blog/art

The second one I knocked up in 20 minutes on Saturday – it’s just photos moving around – but it’s something I’d like to play around with more. You can also check out some of my favourite videos from other youtube users. I’ll be adding more stuff there soon, and it’s basically just another handy way of me to peddle my evil wares online

Anyway, here’s the video:

Talking of videos, I was really happy today to get a reply from Lloyd Kaufman on twitter (@lloydkaufman). He’s the director of The Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke’em High, Poultrygeist, Sgt. Kabukiman: NYPD etc. And he’s one of my favourite directors of all time, up there with John Waters and Russ Meyer.

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