Left, me (age 12); Right, my brother (age 7); Center, with our mom

As a kid, my family would visit Mickey Mouse at his home in Disneyland a lot.  One of our favorite things to do while we were there was to have our silhouette cut out by the bearded old man on Main Street.

Since my childhood I’ve developed a less innocent and more twisted sense of humor that, albeit ironic, allows me to appreciate the classic Victorian pastime of silhouette art with even more vim and vigor.

So, when I became acquainted with the bizarre work of Mr. Wilhelm Staehle I practically lost my mind.  By the artist’s own account, he’s a “horribly disfigured gentleman who frightens small children and has an obsession with taxidermy”.  I did some research and found that this wasn’t the case at all.  Mr. Staehle is in fact a young’ish man with an eccentric talent and a wistfully weird wit.

Though obscure, I hope that you too will find his pieces to be appealing, interesting and enjoyable.

Psst:  Check back for an article on how to make your very own silhouette art.  Though I’ve never done it myself before, I couldn’t write about this inspiring work without at least trying my (hopefully very steady) hand at it.