-This blog is dedicated to Dark Art, in all its myriad forms-
I make every effort to properly identify and credit each artist contained herein. Feel free to contact me about inaccurate information; or, suggestions about other artists to feature, including yourself. NOTE: Click on individual pictures to access the larger formats.
Eric Lacombe, better known in the art world as Monstror, is an astounding artist from Lyons, France that was born in 1968. I first came across his work by accident while perusing other members' Favorites collection on deviantArt.
This is a person that has made me stand up and take notice at that indefinable and elusive quality few artists possess. You can never say exactly what it is, but you know it when you see it.There is a subtlety contained within his pieces that can only be understood when one studies, very closely, the intricate details and nuances that make up the whole, i.e. in the large-size format.
Whether it be the textures used, the emotional content expressed, or the beautifully dark intensity, this man's work is something to be admired and appreciated for what it really is: a rare glimpse inside the subconscious--something that transcends words and goes to the core.
As a child, Monstror was obsessed with dead things and the processes of decay itself, particularly dead birds that frequented his garden; as well as the look and texture of rusted objects. During these formative years he did a lot of drawing, but eventually stopped altogether for some years.Once he had grown older he found a job as a graphic designer and this brought back to him a desire to begin drawing again, predominately using the Drawing aspects of Photoshop programs.
From the very beginning, Monstror had a need and desire to express a feeling or mood, not to just "create something artistic".To this day, this is still the criteria he uses: expressing a mood, outward, into the world; not intentionally producing pieces of art. I've been personally in correspondence with Eric about his work and I'll include a quote here that he sent me:
"I know my works are full of artistic mistakes and I have no real technique to do so, but that is the way I want it to be."
And I include this quote for a specific reason. First and foremost, I have yet to find anything in his pieces that would be anywhere near the category of a "mistake". However, I think I know what he means here, and that is his work emerges up from deep within. The soul of every person has flaws and mistakes and those unique qualities are precisely what makes humans what we are--makes us, us; from the most damaged to the most exalted.
Mr. Lacombe uses a Pen Tablet in Photoshop, along with several Brushes that he creates for himself when searching for just the right texture to fulfill his visions.He is not, nor ever has been, into the "Gothic thing", although many people seem to automatically assume this when looking at some of his pieces.
His reasons for creating what he does have only to do with expressing central themes that interest and fascinate him: "Solitude, loneliness, sad feelings, melancholy, tears, poetry, fear, pain... etc."His incredible work can be found on the following sites: deviantArt Monstror's Blog Facebook MySpace
In closing, I want to give a personal thanks to Eric Lacombe, for providing me with details for this Feature; of his influences, his childhood, and the techniques he uses to create things we are fortunate enough to witness.
As some of you may have noticed I have been taking a break from the Blog world for the last three months. The reasons for this are varied and...none of your fuckin' business! LOL, just kidding.
Anyway, I am back for the time being, although my time is still not as available as it once was. However, I want to send out a thanks to those who have sent inquiring, kind notes as to where I disappeared to, or if I were still alive.
So yes, fortunately for a few, perhaps unfortunately for even more, I am still kicking and taking no prisoners. I will get around to answering all emails, comments, notes, and Instant Messages soon enough, but until then my next feature here is going to be a slight departure from the norm on this Blog. In fact, it may become a new type feature, as opposed to the "visual" arts. I still haven't decided yet.
But, at any rate, I'm going to include one of my recent poems here. A few of you are aware I am a writer of demented fiction and fewer still that I occasionally spew out a poem for no other reason than to excise whatever may be eating into my brain from a life I rarely understand. This piece was inspired partially by a painting (included below) and...well, figure it out for yourself.
You may like it, you may hate it, but any comments as to whether this type of thing (Dark poetry by other artists) should be a somewhat regular Feature on this Blog is most appreciated. So, without further delay, I leave you with this:
Ceiling of Hell
I walk these streets Among night-crawlers, Breathing veils of darkness; Trying to forget, To Hide, Deny The rising inner Heat, Devoid of Light That blur stares from inquisitive strangers Sensing primal inclinations.
Their suspicions cling As though beasts in agony, Perched, Up there, along the Edge In gnarled green canopies Above earth, within nightmares, around memories Of war: insatiable Whore of Man Feasting on appetites Honed true by Cain & Abel Among swelling viscera --knotted, bruised, festering— Uncoiling From my mind Across battlefields …and war crimes …and extermination squads …and ethnic cleansing, Ready to strike, viper-quick With agenda-laden fangs Injecting poison into warriors Yet to be born In wombs of keloid tissue Of traditions and tribal law Breeding disease, hatred Across ancient bloodlines, Forgotten wrongs.
The call me Mercenary; Trained for Stealthy Death Hardened by acts of depravity, Against the depraved. Chiseled flint focus Sharpened by bone and stinking flesh Reeking burnt-fish-onion odors Of fear and brutality That ooze From pores of the inhumane.
I melt across foreign lands Eating shadows Camouflaged in moonless nights Silent as graveyard wind Crawling in mud, blood, shit and death: Waiting Watching Witnessing Slaughtered children, baptized By gore, and fire, and torn flesh Forever marked By retribution, hatred, insanity.
They sit alone, these children, As one and the same Across every land-every battle-every abomination Silent Frozen Discolored In filthy alleys and foxholes— Forever staring Above Searching for answers Yet, Only finding the empty Face of God Refracted by polluted oceans Welling up in violated eyes Of insect hosts, Broken hearts. Their souls rise among malevolent tornadoes, Crying black clouds of ink, violence, cordite.
The days now drip into weeks, Skip across the surface of months, Stagger blindly on the broken back of years Coalesced mind-scars of numb, quiet horror That no one can ever know, understand, accept Because of what I saw, what I did To those that stole The innocent from our future, Back there--in another time, another life.
I now hunger, starve For the closeness and kind touch of a true lover I’ll never have; Her arms wound tightly around me, Through me. The two of us creating a new Being A living fossil, sharing one breath Entwined within the canvas of Beksiński’s ‘Embrace’. One who will never let go nor Fear my pain nor Judge my past nor Condemn my life Because of monsters I have slain That rot in shallow graves across the earth, Caressing the ceiling of Hell.
Kris was born in Springfield, Missouri in 1973 and spent a difficult childhood in an isolated world of rural seclusion, introversion, and imagination.
His art exemplifies a distaste for the often typical American life, and a pop culture driven by greed and materialism.
Kuski's paintings and highly intricate sculptures have acquired a cult following and been featured in over 100 exhibitions as well as winning numerous awards and prizes.
Several of his pieces have been in international art magazines and book covers, theatrical posters and, most recently, on the just-released Sepultura album A-Lex (inspired by the book A Clockwork Orange).
Mia, born 1979, is an Art Historian, painter, photographer, and mixed media/digital collage artist from Norrköping, in eastern Sweden.
She describes her work as horror pop surrealism or dark lowbrow. When asked to describe herself, she is fond of responding:
"Picture Pippi Longstocking and Swedish movie director Ingmar Bergman having a love child. That's me."
She is a self taught artist in a constant state of learning, and trying new things. Her work is heavily inspired by film directors such as David Lynch, Ingmar Bergman, Alfred Hitchcock, Roy Andersson, Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton; as well as artists like Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel, Francisco Goya, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mark Ryden, Marion Peck, and the masters of Disney Studio's in the 1930's-40's. She also collaborates with Gus Fink (the Creeplings Project).
Specific psychological aspects of her personality heavily influence her art: a passionate loner that dislikes traveling, is decidedly neurotic, scared of numerous things, and extremely afraid to die--not to mention living in a haunted house.
Beyond this, Mäkilä defines her genre as a kind of new Victorianism that is darkly erotic, grotesque, yet beautiful, and a fan of black humor.Her view of artists are as magicians, not moneymakers, and she abhors dishonest, deceitful people.
The goals she strives for through her work is to exorcise the personal demons of grief, sadness, pain, anger, rage, hurt, confusion, shame, and desire.Most of her work consists of acrylics, vintage photographs, paper cut outs, and charcoal, along with a few secret techniques.
Mia's website can be found here, and her blog is here.
This is an extremely cool and painstaking animation project by Reza Dolatabadi and Adam Thomson.
Dolatabadi combined 6,000, yes, 6,000 paintings together over a two year period which were then made into an animation by Thomson. This project has won numerous awards in festivals all over the world.
Paul Gerrard (also known as Sallow) is an amazing freelance digital artist, and the Art Director for UBISOFT, in the UK. Some of his work pays homage to the likes of Beksiński and H.R. Giger but with its own direction and unique vision.
In addition, he contributes his talents to Film Concept art, illustration, CD cover work, and computer game art 2D/3D. From his imagination emerge entire worlds of fantastic creatures and landscapes that reveal the very archetypes which seduce, guide, destroy the human psyche.
On one of his websites, Butterfly Soldiers, he provides us a glimpse into the characters he creates:
"At one point in my life I went looking for these connections, a path if u like, through this I met people whose similar quests had led some of them to connections with Angels, some the Green Goddess, some Native American culture and even some in voodoo. I felt drawn to none, interested in all. Clarity hit me, isn't it all the same, every god worships, every deity spirit calling, isn't it just a way of tuning yourself into something.. Something? Energy, a high (or lower) form of consciousness. It's all a matter of interpretation, what works for one, how your mind interprets what this something has to offer."
Witkin is a photographer and artist who was born in Brooklyn, New York, 1939.
His twin brother, Jerome, is a well known artist as well, but chose painting as his medium of expression. Few, if any, people ever gaze upon a Witkin tableaux without strong reactions. He's been lauded as depraved, perverted, mentally disturbed; while others hail his work as divine, fearless and completely unique.
For three years he was a war photographer during the Vietnam war, later becoming the official photographer in 1967 for City Walls Inc. After studying sculpture at Cooper Union in New York, he became Bachelor of Arts in 1974.Due, in part, to a scholarship from Columbia University, he became Master of Fine Arts at the University of New Mexico.
While a small child, on his way to church with his family, an event occurred that altered his life forever. He, along with his twin brother, witnessed a horrific three car accident in front of his house. Immediately after the crash an object rolled across the street, stopping at his feet. When he looked down, it was the decapitated head of a little girl, her vacant eyes staring up at him. While attempting to bend down and talk to "her" he was carried away from the scene.
Subsequently, a large portion of his art deals with scenes of death and deformity. Some of his most controversial work includes actual corpses and cadavers (or pieces of them). Because of specific laws within the U.S., he was forced to create these pieces in Mexico.
Other themes and subjects in his art include dwarfs, hermaphrodites, hunchbacks, and various physical deformities--as well as images that suggest bestiality, although never crossing that particular line. Much of his work hearkens back, or pays tribute to, famous classical paintings, mythology, and religious episodes throughout history.
Witkin creates his highly complex pieces using a variety of techniques. Some of these include scratching the negative, bleaching, toning the print, and what's called a hands-in-the-chemicals approach. He also employs the use of razor blades, pins, and other implements in the darkroom to achieve the final look.
While viewing Joel's art, a paradox often emerges as to what his "message" or intent actually is. Conflicting and seemingly unrelated objects and scenarios are conjoined in such a way as to appear to make sense. But as soon as one begins to form into words what that relationship is, it all falls apart, defying a rational explanation.
Witkin not only transcends categories, he does not even exist in one. He is outside of the box, and we, the viewers, are only allowed a peak, however briefly. There are many websites featuring Joel's work, a few of which I have listed here:
Eric Lacombe, better known in the art world as Monstror, is an astounding artist from Lyons, France that was born in 1968. I first came across his work by accident while perusing other members' Favorites collection on deviantArt.
In closing, I want to give a personal thanks to Eric Lacombe, for providing me with details for this Feature; of his influences, his childhood, and the techniques he uses to create things we are fortunate enough to witness.
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