Ibride= wonderful weirdness . . .

iBride Bianca Tray

Some time ago I was on my way back from a poetry slam in the very-cool Wicker Park neighborhood, and I passed by a number of interior design stores that made me want to drool and lick the glass, wishing it were earlier and that they were still open. One of the stores had, hanging in the front window, a collection of some of the weirdest trays I had ever seen: using imagery I was intimately familiar with, ie: Renaissance to Victorian-era portraits, they had turned these images on their heads, quite literally, by giving them the heads of animals. Staring at the delicately laser-cut trays with the oddly beautiful paintings on them, I shook my head, and said, "I would hang these on my wall. I'm not sure why, but I reall like them." My sister just gave me a strange look, and we walked on.

Fast forward several months to my discovery of a fabulous site called Velocity Art and Design, which features objets d'art from many wonderful artists, including: IBride, the makers of the oddly enchanting animal head trays. I wandered through their wares this morning, delighted and wishing I had a few extra dollars to spend on a tray or one of their strange and whimsical animal tables . . . sigh. C'est la vie, I suppose. I'll just gaze at iBride's art online until I get rich and famous . . .

iBride Cornelius Tray

One of the things I dearly love about these human-animal hybrids is that the artists seem to have discovered the animal hiding in the original sitter. I mean, isn't this monkey the perfect juxtaposition?

iBride Bambi Console Table

They also have a whole line of tables that seem to be like cardboard silhouettes of animals, mostly just legs, but a few whole creatures that are turned into shelves and knick-knack holders. How great would this look in your front entrance hall, under a spotted antique mirror?

iBride Liu Tray

They also have a series of small trays with old colorized photos of people on them, charming and slightly exotic . . .

iBride Squirrel Tray

Finally, how can you not love a tray with a squirrel on it? I dare you not to.

Maybe this will inspire me to paint a whole series of Victorian portraits with animals heads . . . hmmmmm;)