Mark Prent

Born 1947, Poland

"In 1975, Mark went to Berlin, West Germany on a major international grant, the Guest Artist in Berlin Program of the Deutsche Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD), where he resided with wife, Susie, for nearly two years. While living in Germany, he had two major solo exhibitions in German museums. Following a brief return to Canada, Mark returned to Europe in 1978 for a major retrospective exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1983, he moved with his family to Vermont."



"Mark Prent is still making sculptures, but his materials-of-choice have changed from polyester resin and fiberglass to pigmented silicone 'skins' over gypsum-polymer 'skeletons'. The technique involved is similar to the signature method that he developed in the early 1970's with polyester resin, that of building-up multiple reverse layers of translucent pigmented material to achieve a believable vitality in the cast positive."



"Apart from producing sculptures for exhibit, Mark is also creating sculptures specifically for use in his performance work. These performances are, for the most part, one-time events which are recorded as video or film vignettes. Often, the performances are too elaborate to be repeated or performed anywhere other than on the Prent family premises. For example, they may take place entirely underwater or involve the partial destruction or change of the sculptural figures during the performance. These performance pieces represent a new collaborative relationship with his son Jesse Prent, who is a filmmaker. Some of these performances are as disturbing as Mark's early sculptural work."



"His work was the subject of a 1972 lawsuit in which a gallery, exhibiting one of his works consisting of a butcher’s counter of human body parts, was charged with 'exhibiting a disgusting object'. Prent was the subject of the 1976 documentary by Tom Burston 'If Brains Were Dynamite'." Also in 1980 a documentary entitled 'Overmood' by Brian Mckneil was made.



Besides sculpture and performance pieces, Mark produces jewelry; all of which can be found on his website. The most descriptive and concise article of ever seen written about him is Catharsis and the Incarnate Nightmare

Yang Xueguo

Yang is a 3D animation and digital-painting artist, as well as a University art teacher. He was born in 1977 in Kunming, a small city in Yunnan, China, often called Spring City or City of Eternal Spring, because of its year-round temperate climate. It's also considered an important area for its economical, cultural, and educational institutions.



As a child, Xueguo loved painting, and eventually found a passion for surreal art; an aspect of art that is somewhat uncommon and unusual in China. Although he currently uses his computer for the majority of his creations (using 3ds Max, After Effects, Photoshop, and ZBrush), he plans to pursue oil painting in the near future.



His Eco Workshop homepage discusses the CG area of his art. He can also be found on Its Art Mag, CG Society, and Be In Art.

c0ltzish0r

c0ltzish0r creates photo montages on his YouTube channel of various Dark Artists, using Black Metal/Ambient-type music from different bands as accompaniment. The Art he chooses combines seamlessly with the mood and feel of the music. I've enjoyed his work for a while now, and thought it high time he became a member of Seeds From Hell. While I've chosen only a few here, he has at least 37 videos as of this posting.

Stephanie Bennett

Stephanie, also known in the art world as cades, has some of the most visually arresting and unique Digital Art I've come across in quite some time. They are like beautifully tailored nightmares--enticing and seductive, yet disturbing all at once.

She uses a very fitting quote for her Signature at the Neosynthesis website:

"reset your eyes, your dreams are bleeding"

At only 26 years of age, I imagine Miss Bennett will be producing Seeds from Hell from her home in Costa Mesa, CA for many years to come.



Her deviantART gallery currently features eight pages of great Digital/Photomanipulation works. Be sure to also take a look at her own website, CADESart.

San Base

Admittedly, this installment is not what most would consider a proper Seed from Hell; that is, dark and wicked. However, occasionally an Artist will come along that not only blows your mind, they alter your concepts of what you thought was possible.

Which brings us to San Base. Until tonight, I'd never even heard of the man, nor his art, or his Dynamic Painting software. That has all changed now, and I'll never forget the initial experience of what I saw. Perhaps for some, it will be mildly interesting, for others, somewhat fascinating; but me? well I'm blown away, pure and simple. The embedded player here, for some reason, starts on mute, so be sure and click the volume up on it:



His static pictures are quite interesting, but what really catches my attention is the moving images he's created. Here's the thing that really intrigues me about this Art: it is never, ever the same. This is a product of Sans programming and creativity, not just a computer generating some kind of set parameters. Once you have seen the moving image, you will never see it again, unless it has been recorded. It does not "loop" or regenerate. It is ever-changing, like a living thing in itself.



San Base was born in Russia, but has resided in Canada since the mid 1990's. At the age of 12, he was accepted into a Fine Arts school, which he attended until time for higher education. By this point however, he'd discovered a love, and talent, for mathematics. He then had to decide between one of the most prominent art schools in Russia (Surikov Academy of Fine Arts), or attend a Technical University and study applied science to become a cybernetics engineer. He chose science, but continuously painted when time permitted.

Over time he developed the concept of Dynamic Painting by combining his artistic talents with a distinguished background in programming. He calls it a generative art which uses the very latest in computer technology and algorithms. While computer-generated, -assisted art is nothing new, this particular form requires a great deal of skill and artistic talent to produce. Generating textures and imagery as large as 100Mpixel, with every tiny digital brush stroke and intricate nuance crystal clear makes it quite unique.

On his website, he goes into much greater detail about the creative process and the software/video card required to generate the work, even offering it for sale to others--for a very reasonable price I might add, considering it's potential and generating power. He also generously offers a gallery of literally 1,000 pictures, for free personal downloads.

The ever-growing and amazing deviantART website also features two of the videos I've featured here, and in DivX format (highly recommended for the best quality). His YouTube channel has several, but they are not very good quality, picture-wise, which is not surprising with YouTube.