Thrift Store Adventures: Art, Kinda!

The other day I went to my favorite thrift store ever, One True North in Kansas City. They had a "bag sale" where you put whatever you can fit into a grocery bag and it's only $6! I got like $40 in thrift store stuff for 6 bucks, and $40 in thrift store stuff is about $5000 in retail value. That may be an exaggeration. Regardless, I'm pretty happy about it.

I've been finding some good (read: weird) artsy stuff lately, so today I'm going to share some with you! First up, we have some little plates or something.

They are slightly translucent and come in four different colors. Oh yeah, they also have a super creepy old man on them. I don't know what these are or what they are meant to be used for, but this old man is a nightmare:

Seriously. Are his eyes supposed to be golf balls or does he just have really bad cataracts? Is his nose supposed to be a golf club or does he just have a hollow void in his face where his nose once was? *shudder* He looks like a mix between a guy without a nose and Aphex Twin. See?

It's okay to make fun of that noseless guy because he was arrested for kidnapping someone. Hoy.

Next up we have this bizarre wooden wall plaque.

It features a woman wearing a green turban and dress, with the turban and dress being the only objects in color. The plaque looks pretty old, and there are no markings on it anywhere so although I tried to research it, I came up empty handed. I do, however, think it is super weird, and she could possibly be someone's loved one, so it is prime thrift store material for me. I guess I don't have much to say about this other than I thought it was really interesting and super strange. And she's kinda hot.

Here is a very "creative" plate.

It is a dinner plate with the word "CAT" painted on. It has been hand painted and glazed, so someone took some time on their CAT plate. At first I thought it was the Caterpillar construction logo, but it is missing the little triangle. That actually makes me kinda happy, because it doesn't even mean anything. Unless someone fed their cat on this thing. 

I'm going to have my [future] in-laws over and claim that my good dishes are in the washer and we have to use the CAT plate and C-3PO mug and we have to eat Vienna sausages. A perfect evening. 

Finally, we have a picture of incredible epicness.

That's right, folks, it's a drawing of the back of a shirtless guy thrusting a sword into the air. Two things I love about this picture: 1) someone took the time to actually draw it, and 2) someone took the time to actually frame it. I don't know where that places me, who actually took the time to buy it, but I'm not on trial here. I looked a little closer and noticed it didn't quite look hand drawn, so I took it apart.

It's definitely just a print. Not only that, but there are staple marks in it, the paper is cut uneven, and there are folds and wrinkles all over the page. Why this thing was in a frame, I did not know. Until I noticed the back of the frame had a $3 price tag which was clearly from a thrift store. I picked it up for $1.50, meaning they had to cut the price by 50% due to the cheesy drawing inside the frame. 

That picture reminds me of the super fantastic lamp I found at an antique mall a few months ago.

It is pretty epic, in every sense of the word. I think it is a viking or conquistador or something in a badass pose. It was a bit pricey so I didn't buy it, but upon looking at this picture again... I may have to go back. 

Anyway, lots more good thrift store art to come! And you should really consider signing up for my Thrift Store Pen Pals project :)