Mike Olandese: The Strange and Unusual World of Arcanexus Designs

In this episode of The Permanent Record Podcast, host Gerard Legagneur enters the strange and unusual world of artist Mike Olandese, the creative mind behind Arcanexus Designs.

Mike transforms animal skulls, bones, vintage taxidermy, and other unusual objects into distinctive works of art. He shares how his fascination with the macabre developed, where he finds inspiration, and what goes into creating pieces that blur the boundaries between art, natural history, and the unconventional.

The conversation also gets practical as Mike offers advice for collectors on preserving and maintaining skulls, bones, and vintage taxidermy. From cleaning and preventing insect damage to managing humidity and protecting delicate materials from cracking, he shares tips drawn from his experience working with these objects.

It's a fascinating look at an artist who finds beauty in the unexpected and gives forgotten objects a second life.

Explore more:

• Arcanexus Designs
• Permanent Record Magazine: https://clipkick.com/permanentrecordmag

A purple deer with a dollhouse tucked inside its torso. A glowing bay window emerging from its neck. A spiral staircase leading to a dining table perched on its antlers. In Brooke Weston’s work, discarded taxidermy becomes the setting for intricate miniature worlds that invite you to look closer.

In this episode of the Permanent Record Podcast, we sit down with the mixed media artist behind these surreal creations to explore what she calls “fantasy taxidermy.” Working with old, damaged mounts, Brooke combines restoration, sculpture, miniatures, and interior design to build detailed scenes inside animals. She takes us through the painstaking process, from hollowing out forms and repairing hides to constructing tiny rooms, and explains how the physical limitations of each piece often lead her somewhere entirely unexpected.

Brooke also traces her creative roots to a rural California childhood spent collecting bones and building little scenes inside trees. She reflects on discovering punk and goth culture, experimenting with dollhouses inside mannequins, and spending years in restaurant work while longing to return to art. In a candid discussion about sobriety, perfectionism, and her inner critic, she shares how reclaiming her creativity helped her build a life around the work she wanted to make.

Along the way, we talk oddities, the appeal of miniature spaces, and the criticism her artwork draws from people who misunderstand her materials and methods. It’s a conversation about giving forgotten objects another life, and finding the courage to take your own imagination seriously.

Artist and prosthetist Sophie de Oliveira Barata draws on her background in special effects to create striking works of wearable art that explore body modification, evolution, and transhumanism. In this episode, Gerard and guest co-host Lucia Brawley talk with Sophie about the technical craft behind making both hyper realistic and fantastical prosthetics, the influence of Alexander McQueen on her work, and the surprisingly complex challenge of designing a prosthetic butt.

Check out Sophie's work at https://thealternativelimbproject.com/