-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 encountered Eric's portfolio while browsing deviantArt.
This is an artist of the highest caliber, possessing those indefinable and elusive qualities of emotional impact that 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's the textures, psychological content expressed, or the dark, beautiful 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:deviantArtMonstror's BlogFacebookMySpace











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.
Greetings, fellow Dark Art lovers.
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 HellI walk these streets Among night-crawlers, Breathing veils of darkness;Trying to forget,To Hide, DenyThe rising inner Heat, Devoid of LightThat blur stares from inquisitive strangers Sensing primal inclinations.Their suspicions clingAs though beasts in agony,Perched,Up there, along the Edge In gnarled green canopies Above earth, within nightmares, around memoriesOf war: insatiable Whore of ManFeasting on appetitesHoned true by Cain & AbelAmong swelling viscera--knotted, bruised, festering—UncoilingFrom my mindAcross battlefields …and war crimes …and extermination squads…and ethnic cleansing,Ready to strike, viper-quickWith agenda-laden fangsInjecting poison into warriorsYet to be born In wombs of keloid tissueOf traditions and tribal law Breeding disease, hatred Across ancient bloodlines,Forgotten wrongs.They call me Mercenary;Trained for Stealthy DeathHardened by acts of depravity,Against the depraved.Chiseled flint focusSharpened by bone and stinking fleshReeking burnt-fish-onion odorsOf fear and brutalityThat ooze From pores of the inhumane.I melt across foreign landsEating shadows Camouflaged in moonless nightsSilent as graveyard windCrawling in mud, blood, shit and death:WaitingWatchingWitnessingSlaughtered children, baptized By gore, and fire, and torn flesh Forever markedBy retribution, hatred, insanity.They sit alone, these children,As one and the sameAcross every land-every battle-every abominationSilent Frozen DiscoloredIn filthy alleys and foxholes—Forever staring AboveSearching for answersYet,Only finding the emptyFace of GodRefracted by polluted oceansWelling up in violated eyesOf 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 yearsCoalesced mind-scars of numb, quiet horrorThat no one can ever know, understand, acceptBecause 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 loverI’ll never have;Her arms wound tightly around me,Through me.The two of us creating a new BeingA living fossil, sharing one breathEntwined within the canvas of Beksiński’s ‘Embrace’.One who will never let gonorFear my painnorJudge my pastnorCondemn my lifeBecause of monsters I have slainThat rot in shallow graves across the earth,Caressing the ceiling of Hell.
Ceiling of Hell by
Majase Cyc is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Zdzisław Beksiński: 'Embrace'
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.