Bubbleworld

Welcome to my nightmare:



It is a real place:



An alternative universe hiding in a ray of sunshine:

Bubbleworld is my world.

Return to Bubbleworld

Bubbleworld is my world.

2019 Fair Fine Arts Preview

My, my, how quickly doth the days fly by.

It seems like only yesterday that I was attending the Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Preview Night.

Oh. It was yesterday.

Some rough impressions of this year’s exhibit (click on images to embiggen):

While sculpture is always strong at the fair, Lester Hoikka’s 21st Century Nude Reclining is even better in 3-D (cross eyes for 3-D effect):



My old pal Nicole Houff, Barbie™ photographer, was back—this time with 3 Kens (and a Kip):



Karen Brown’s Foxy is a scary look at pre-adolescence, while Nathan Wagoner’s drawing Asa Nisi Masa looked as if it has been executed in 1918, not 2018:



Of all the photography, I probably enjoyed Tiffany Bolk’s Lost & Found the most:



And Pallavi Sharma (shown with her model Maricella Herrera on the left) was the multi-cultural hit of the show, with the gentleman (evidently a stranger) posing with the two:



Once again, the “no nipples in photographs rule” was in force. The closest it came to being broken was in the image of the 3 topless Kens, who don’t have nipples either!

This rule does not apply to any other medium, of course, and there were plenty in painting and sculpture.

And, as usual, lots of chickens, horses, dogs and images of Iceland.

I think I’ll have to enter one of my “Bubbleworld” photos next year, just to be contrary.

Check out my other Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts reviews.

Bubbleworld Revisited

Engine Territory

Bubbleworld Revisited

Offered without comment:

Cosmic Apple

One of my ‘Bubbleworld’ series, not to be confused with the ‘Cosmic Crisp’ varietal.

This is a ‘straight’ photograph, shot with a modified lens and with the saturation tweaked a bit in post.

Dogma

A collection of memorable FITK posts, sorted by year:

2025

Willey House
Endless Summer Redux
Orange Crush
Sound 80 and Me
Mosh Pit
I want to…
Strange Santa Fe
Experiments in AI
Market Day
The Eternal Dynamic

2024

Apple Loves Me
Love of an Adolescent
Adventures in Fine Woodworking
Memories Like Jazz
The Camden Motel
Cosmic Appple
Return to Shepherd’s Harvest
Kenergy
Virtual Exercise
The Best Day
Happy New Year

2023

Puzzling Perspective
Iceland 2023 Recap
RLBQ
Mothers and Daughters
Food Truck Frenzy
Clouds Over Grand Marais
Snookies Malt Shop
Finely Drawn
Retro Dance Party!
Móðir, kona, meyja
Love Hurts Twice
Soggy Sharon

2022

Day One
Lifting the Shroud
Flu Shot Saga
Simple Meals Are Best
Modern Problem
Bubble World Revisited
Job Opportunity
The Eagle Has Landed
Suicide Tourist
Another Invitation
French Connections
An Invitation

2021

Time Traveling With Bob
Fun with Dick and Joan and Bob and Mimi
Sandhill Cranes
Adventures in Linguistics
Return to Bubble World
Peggy and Her Pals
Matchbook Masterpieces
Ghost Neighborhood
Arty Party
Audio Artifacts…
Fan Dancer’s Horse
Puzzled

2020

My Last Cigar
Tony Glover Auction
Road Trip
State Fair Memories
Marlene Mania
God in the Garden
Hat Trick
Viral Sharon
Jono’s Letter
The Last Gig
My First Date Redux
Honky-Tonk Woman

2019

Waiting, Wishing, Hoping
Weekend in New Ulm
Dylan Double Down
Four More From the Fair
Bubbleworld
Beat Travel Guide
Arty Afternoon on Willy Street
Authority Figure
Golden Boy Redux
JC Revisited
Dreams on a Winter Afternoon
First Avenue

2018

Ceramic Culture
Airwaves and Gender
Anorexic
Light Birds
Red Sun
Savoury Summer
Hot Fun in the Summertime
Art-A-Whirl
Fade to Black
Godzilla Valentine
Pulp Flippist

2017

Porcelain Queen
Farmers Market
Wednesday Night…
Betra Líf
Twinned
Food Truck Frenzy
Art vs. Nature
Pastoral
Livestock
East Jesus
Baffled by Benchley
Harriet and Desha

2016

Walking with Ms. Lee
Great Minds Think Alike
How Does it Feel?
Through a Glass, Darkly
Missives from the Jazz Age
Learning to Fly
Astronauts: A Love Story
Searching for Shoshanah
Green Lake
Depth of Focus
February Thaw
All those moments…

2015

Proustian Dilemma
The Situation Girls
Fimm Konur
Four From the Fair
Girls’ Night Out
Saturday in the Park
Rivertown Ramble
Flaming Youth
Visions of Shoshanah
Woman Lake - 1980
It’s All Too Beautiful
Endless Summer

2014

Old Friends
Wanda in Art School
The Last Day of Summer
Bayfield 1984
Trail Center
From Paradise to Sunrise
Origami Litter
Art in Bloom
Face at the Window
Wanda Gág Day
Creative Writing
Germanium

2013

The Artist and the Collector
The Divine Mrs. M
45th Parallel
Blooms
I Love the Fair
The Mansion on the Hill
Iceland for Night Owls
Two Tickets to Paradise
Missed Connections
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Playing Hooky
Chanteuse

2012

Cindy Sherman
Sunday Night Shopper
Silent Movie
Last Days of Summer
Alice in Wonderland
Night at the Improv
Love Letters Straight from Your Heart
Howie’s
The Maestro's Farewell
Fathers and Daughters
Oral
The Wallflower

2011

Convergence
Book Review
Batty Visits Development Hell
Bill
Best Friends Forever
When Cars Had Tits
Batty’s World Tour
Patina
The Mystery of Ye Old Mill
Rituals of Courtship
Joni Mitchell’s Coyote
Walking on Thin Ice

2010

The Music of Failure
Postcards from Chennai
Sharon as Salome
Cosmic Call
Summer Hiatus
Camping With Sharon
Not Jim
Archie
Loss of a Pet
Pascal Pinon
January Thaw

2009

Mál og menning
Bill Holm's Last Reading
The Pastels
L'Opera dei Dannati
Sod
The iPad™
Haunted Castle
Ensculptic
Sex Dreams
Invader
Black Forest
Iceland at the Crossroads

2008

Saturday Matinee
Cold Comfort Farm
Richmond
Elizabeth the Great
Oh! Those BC Girls
Desperately Seeking Sharon
Milestones in haberdashery
Summer Love
Soliloquy
Door
The Visitor
Soft-core

2007

Cold Night
Single Mother
Amiina Now
Beautiful Kisses
Comica's Temptation
Green Lake
P.A.F
Twinned
Sweet Rolls and Silence
A Familial Misunderstanding
Found Object

2006

700 Year Old Disclaimer
The Boat of Longing
Hippies in the Heartland
Fine, I won’t walk around at night...
lines.
Smoking Lessons - The Pipe
Family Values
Hau Tree Lanai
Seasonal Equipoise
Water
Garden Party
More Postcards From Calcutta

2005

The bigger picture
My Funny Valentine
A day in my life
Sex-Ed 101
The Door
Button Jar
Dondi and the Waitress
Dance Party
The Accidental Traveling Companion
Ghost Blog
River Reverie
Red Zinger Tea

2004

Salome’s Dance
Mel Jass and Me
Coconut Oil
Gym Class
Flippist Industries, Inc.
José Loves Betty
Pink ‘n’ Black
Lesbians taking over the world?