the website of Mark S Bailen. . . writer, illustrator, and fake-nature photographer
We took a little trip to Oaxaca to visit family and had a long layover in LAX. So I had fun doing a montage of wildvertising. Why do airports love wildvertising? Perhaps because they are such sterile and well-controlled places, antithetical to nature? Do these ads promise escape?
the original influencer. . .
a bear with a backpack. . .
ecosystems. . .
how long can you go?
wildest day ever. . .
views for days. . .
Virgin Mary painted in tree. . . .
At the Wild Horse Pass Sheraton, outside of Phoenix, they installed a bar inside of a fake cliff dwelling and decorated it with appropriately reverent artifacts. Perfect place to booze and shmooze.
Sedona Arabella Schnebly tempting people with apples, offering knowledge of good and weirdness.
Love the desert-themed murals in this Tempe mall. . . showing on the inside, what was once outside.
Spent a few weeks hanging out in Sydney while my wife prepped for a marathon. . .
My wife sometimes wonders why I can’t take normal pictures. When we go to new places, I’m often more interested in taking pics of the gift shop, the tour guide, or the ad posters, than the place itself. Anyway, I tried to take a normal pic of the Sydney Opera House. I swear!
if you want to see what Sydney looked like before the city evolved into a massive sprawl, there’s no need to visit the bush. The botanic gardens have a fake rain forest with planters, signage, colored mylar canopies, and a snack bar.
Spotted a dementor in the Australian Museum. And nobody seemed to notice. Muggles.
The Australian museum had some original Blaschkas, which I first became familiar while visiting the natural history museum at Harvard. According to the display:
“The Blaschkas were known for their exquisite models of sea creature made in the 1870’s and 1880’s. The models were widely used in museums as it was almost impossible to preserve soft-bodied creatures. They are of limited educational value today – many are anatomically incorrect or cannot be identified – but their worth resides in the provenance and artistry. Our collection is one of the few neither lost nor damaged over the years.”