The Illusionist

Wildfire – Matthew Albanese ____________________________________ Strange Worlds  By Matthew Albanese Introductory Essay By David Revere McFadden Lazy Dog Press 2013 / Milan John Fraim   “Carl Jung wrote that our ‘projections change the world into the replica of one’s own unknown face.’ Matthew Albanese’s strange worlds serve two masters: they are projections of the artist’s […]

Blackout

Ideas & Story Concept “Our best men, our economic experts, have accomplished the task we set them of drawing up a plan for the electrification of Russia and the restoration of her economy. We must now see to it that the workers and peasants should realize how great and difficult this task is, how it […]

Fear & Loathing

Hunter Thompson’s Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) “We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold. I remember saying something like ‘I feel a bit lightheaded; maybe you should drive…’ and suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was […]

Casting Call

Casting Call: Idea For A New Diorama John Fraim Synchronicity. Improvisation. Correspondence. Coincidence.   I think I bring things together more than create things. There’s a big difference. I’m different from a lot of modelers who create their own figures from wire skeletons covering them with clay and epoxy. I’ve never tried to do this. […]

Desktop Film Studios

“Norman Wouldn’t Hurt A Fly” – Box Diorama Inside the Studio by Nick Infield Thinking Inside the Box Few would argue that Sheperd Paine was the greatest modeler and dioramist of the modern world. His amazing figures and models appeared as photos on model kits and motivated an entire generation of model-makers. His ideas about […]

Masters of Illusion

“Moonrise Over Mountains” – John Fraim (7/19/18) Box Dioramists: Masters of Illusion “The same objects look bent and straight when seen in and out of water … and every kind of deception like this is clearly present in our soul.” Plato, The Republic (380 BC) There is a small group of modelers out there today […]

Cliff House Fire

It was a simple download from the Internet from Wurlington Press – paper cut-out of the Cliff House in San Francisco in 1/750 scale and proceeded. The Cliff House was one of the greatest conglomerations of gingerbread ever seen in San Francisco. This is saying a lot. I labored cutting the little pieces out but […]

Miniature Car Crashes

A quick little diorama from things just “hanging around” the old shop. In Z scale or 1/220. A dab of glue on everything and we’re good to go. (But the two people don’t look too “good to go” to me.) Sometimes, a spur of the moment idea captures things as well as long, planned out […]

Coltrane’s Lost Album

“Like finding another room in the great pyramids.” Sonny Rollins Both Directions At Once: The Lost Album (March 6, 1963) John Coltrane   I just listened to the deluxe version of these recordings. All of them and this music is some of John Coltrane’s most accessible music. A powerful find of hidden American art so […]

Desert Patriot’s Last Stand

He sold everything he owned, bought a used RV and moved to the desert. He bought a little spot on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. He lived off-the-grid for years. Every month he went into the small town fifty miles away and bought his food and supplies. He built a fence […]