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Before the modern era, to be seriously ill was to enter a world of almost unimaginable pain, misery and often grotesque medical ignorance. The diseases were bad enough, but the treatments were often far worse. This terrifying era has been brought to life with a new online exhibition, courtesy of the Science Museum in London, in which more than 2,500 objects from medicine's dark past are on display. The Wax Vanitas was an educational work of art designed to remind us that human life is perilously short. This example shows a decaying human head, with a skull and worms feeding off the flesh. The other side shows the face during life. The idea was to hammer home the message that death comes all too soon to each and every one of us. This is similar to memento mori gravestones of the era depicting skulls, hourglasses and scythes. TheTamshee says: a little grotesque but fascinating in a strange way
Korean sculptor Gwon Osang creates sculptures from hundreds of photographs of the original subjects, overlaying them onto lightweight life-sized mannequins. Gwon's quilted photo-sculptures are made by photographing different sections of the model's anatomy. Osang, who graduated from the Hong-ik University sculpture department, has become one of the most recognised contemporary artists in Korea for his non-conventional approach to sculpture which includes models such as the band Keane who chose him to create eye-catching artwork to promote their album Perfect Symmetry. 
Each band member took between 1,000 and 3,000 photographs to create, and while the photo shoot took five days with the band, the actual sculptures took around six weeks to produce. He says: "For me photography was not very interesting. Not to say photography as a genre wasn't interesting, but the people in that field, the photographers were not interesting. This is my personal opinion but I think they are different from sculptors" His inspiration for the 3D photo sculpture series, titled Deodorant Type, was entirely practical. He says: "As an art student I often used heavy materials like stone, bronze and wood. I would often need to move my piece but it would be too heavy so I decided to make something lightweight" and developed a motto: never make anything that a friend and I can't easily move" Gwon Osang is based in Korea and represented by Arario Gallery, Korea. TheTamshee says: these photo-mache sculptures are certainly impressive. The music also has some appeal.
While out rambling with the Indy Kids, TheTamshee: convinced them that there was "Elves" living in this mushroom patch. Can you spot the big daddy. 
