Puzzle Description:

You don't see anything? Don't worry. This is a modern art drawing by the famous german actor Armin Mueller-Stahl, who made around 100 movies in the past 50 years (for example The Game, Project: Peacemaker, Illuminati, The International). And why fits it this weeks competition? The drawing is called: Musikclown (Music Clown) check the original image on first comment! Please, be polite with your comments on this!

#1: Kai-Uwe Zickerick (conzick) on Jan 20, 2011 [SPOILER]

http://www.artundbook.de/images/Musik-Clown.gif

And this is Armin Mueller-Stahl:

http://de.academic.ru/pictures/dewiki/65/Armin_mueller-stahl.jpg

That's a pretty good representation of the line drawing. As I was solving it looked like a hand or an ice cream cone, holding balloons.

thanks for the link
i didnt know what this was

Are most of your puzzles so using of 1s in such tricky fashion? =) I normally solve puzzles bigger than 50 one way on paper (heck, even those bigger than 40) but decided due to the small width I'd try to tackle it online; I almost had a migrane. =D

Thanks for your entry Kai, very interesting and informative. As Kristen said:
" a pretty good representation of the line drawing " And as you guessed I don't see a clown in neither.

I agree, it looks like the drawing, but I don't see a clown. It looks closer to a Chinese religious figure holding a bell. I actually thought that was what is was.

I like it. :) I can see the clown in the drawing.

a mouse, surrendering. not sure why.

Not sure why the original artist called it a clown but when I looked at the original image it popped right out at me! The oval to the upper left is the head. The large open object in the middle is the body of the instrument, like a string bass, and the person's right arm is curling around in front of it. I assume his left hand is coming around the top on the other side to fret the notes.

Perhaps the artist meant it to represent a circus musician, many times who were clowns.

I waited to mark the quality until after I had see the original. I'll now be marking it pretty high.

i absolutely see a clown in both mueller's image and your representation. excellent, kai. i happen to love modern art and am moved by surrealism, dada, etc. i'm glad you chose to do something so unexpected. and nice choice of colors, i might add.

Thank you so much for your warm comments!

Wow! I think I like your representation better than the original. :-) This was a really fun solve, Kai.

At first, I saw the circle on the upper left as a balloon. After reading Martin's interpretation, I was able to see that as the clown's head, and was able to see the musical instrument. But the position of the feet indicate a flow that goes to the upper right as the head. So now I see the musical instrument (thanks to Martin) with a balloon attached by a string at the middle, and the clown looking at the balloon while he plays.

What do the art critics say?

This is an amazingly well-done interpretation, considering the limitations of the media in which it is presented. :) I can completely see the clown, if I look at it as something akin to the movable figures used to aid proportion and whatnot when drawing human forms, as opposed to expecting something more photorealistic. I can also see the oriental figure holding a bell/censor that someone else mentioned. I also see a praying mantis if I look really close and bend my brain a little. ;)

Goto next topic

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