The Inexplicably Fascinating Secret World of Thomasson

“Thomasson: noun \ to-ma-son \ a preserved architectural relic which serves no purpose”. We’ve all come across an example at one time or another– probably didn’t give it too much thought and surely had no idea these random urban oddities actually had a name, let alone an entire movement dedicated to observing them as conceptual art. That’s right, art. People have…

The Enchanting Genius of a Quietly Forgotten Midcentury Maximalist

Let us take a look inside the classical grandeur and neo-romanticism that flows through the oeuvre of Emilio Terry. A maximalist from the school of more is most definitely more; Terry was an artist, architect, interior decorator, and darling of French society. Parisian born, he would mix in the elite circles of artists and aristocrats,…

Flying Parisian Houses

No, Pixar is not promoting a sequel to Up, set in Paris (sadly), this is the work of French photographer & artist Laurent Chehere. Inspired by the architecture of the 19th and 20th arrondissements of Paris– mainly Belleville and Menilmontant, Laurent isolates his urban houses from the hustle and bustle of the diverse Parisian neighborhoods…

The Greatest Movie Starring Mick Jagger, Dali, and Orson Welles That Never Got Made

Once a month at a Parisian café near the Place de la Bastille, you can find a peculiar crowd of characters trying to squeeze into the local bar du quartier, lining up feverishly to meet a silver-haired man, dressed in all-black and promising to give them a tarot reading. You could be easily forgiven for dismissing the scene as…

Deep in Italy, One Man’s Surrealist Mini-City Sleeps

It’s a labyrinthine citadel more surreal than even the weirdest of Fellini sets. “La Scarzuola” is a modern wannabe-Utopian estate imagined by one man and built amongst the pointy trees of Italy’s Montegabbione in the 1950s. This esoteric wonderland and its elaborate surrealist structures are awaiting your visit… Echoing the dreamlike worlds of Dali and…

Down the Rabbit Hole into a Parisian Wonderland

Paris might already have its own Euro Disneyland, but I know a little place, away from the crowds that’s more like the real thing. If Alice had just chosen a bright yellow door at the end of the rabbit hole and if the Mad Hatter had in fact been a legendary clown from Soviet Russia (I’ll…

Take Five with our Dream Catching Artist Du Jour

Aaaaand relax. Turn on some Sade, put your feet up and make yourself comfortable in the dreamscapes of 3D artist Maciek Martyniuk, also known as Yomagick. Here at the MessyNessy HQ in Paris we’re awaiting news of another partial lockdown, so we could use a little brain-soothing escape right about now… Yomagick’s prints are available…

Inside the Real-Life “Hunger Games” City: A Decaying Parisian Utopia

We’re quite spoilt here in Paris, surrounded by elegant cream-colored stone Haussmanians, gifted with pockets of bucolic cobblestone streets and charmed by old-world cafés and façades. But stray to the suburbs of Eastern Paris and you’ll find what looks like an alternate universe in comparison, a failed post-war “city of Babel” with Pharaonic structures of decaying…

The Supersized Ghost City

Welcome to no man’s land, sorry, Naypyidaw, the vast and empty ghost city that became the brand new capital of Burma a decade ago when the government suddenly announced it was moving the capital from Rongoon, without explanation. If you’ve never heard of the place or never seen pictures of it before, that’s perfectly normal. Most…

Four Grisly Murders, One Salvador Dali

Note: portions of this article contain graphic text. You couldn’t have concocted an eerier murder mystery if you tried. Yet, history seems to have bookmarked the case of the Missing Women of Perpignan — “Les disparues de Perpignan”, as the French say — with dwindling media attention; a shocker due not only to the case’s bizarre nature, but the fact…