Seeds from Hell

Monstror

2009-05-20T20:34:00.000-07:00

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:
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.

Ceiling of Hell

2009-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

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 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.

They 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.

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 Kuski

2009-02-04T16:53:00.000-08:00

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).

Kuski's amazing creations can be found all over the web, including:
Kuski
deviantART
Beinart
MySpace

Mia Mäkilä

2009-01-26T14:48:00.000-08:00

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.

Khoda

2009-01-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

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.

Reza Dolatabadi's website can be found here.

Adam Thomson's portfolio can be found here.

Khoda from Reza Dolatabadi on Vimeo.

Paul Gerrard

2009-01-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

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."

Gerrard's work and portfolio can be found on a number of sites:
Butterfly Soldiers
CG Society
deviantART
Blogspot
MySpace
Linked In

In collaboration with Edward Fox, Paul also creates Industrial music/soundscapes in their project Foxgerhard.

Joel-Peter Witkin

2009-01-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

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:

Edelman Gallery
Masters of Fine Art Photography
Tribute to a Genius

Majase Cyc Productions

2009-01-10T04:05:00.000-08:00

Alrighty then...
I finally got a few of my video creations uploaded. They can be found at the bottom of this page.

Attention: they are not for the squeamish or weak-minded. Consider yourself duly warned.

Grzegorz Kmin (aspius)

2009-01-02T20:06:00.000-08:00

This is yet another Polish artist from the Dark Realms that truly sow Seeds from Hell. Whether by coincidence, or twisted fate, many of the artists I've featured here are of Polish descent. The odd thing is during the massive amount of web surfing I engage in, looking for appropriate art on this blog, it is the art, in and of itself, that grabs me.

Initially, I have no idea where the artist is from, or, often enough, who they may be. This can only lead me to one conclusion: for whatever reason, the imaginations and talent from this region of the world is uniquely and categorically dark and twisted. Why this is I have no idea, but I'm continuously impressed by what I find from the Polish psyche.

As some of you know Zdzisław Beksiński is my all-time favorite and most respected artist, and happens to be Polish. I highlighted a feature of him on this blog several months ago, and I plan to do other features here as well. I think it's safe to say I would never repeat an artist on here--but, as always, Beksiński goes beyond all others for me, so expect more posts about this absolutely astounding artist.

OK, now let's cut to the bone with the current feature.

Grzegorz Kmin was born 1972 in Lodz, Poland. He also is known by the name aspius.

Originally a neurophysiologist by profession, after three years of turmoil in essentially ignoring his artistic bent, Grzegorz began working temporarily as a DTP operator and graphic designer. By 1998 he began in earnest pursuing his art with several trials and tribulations in what direction his life, and his art, were taking him. At this point he began devoting more and more of his time and energies to art and graphics.

Mr. Kmin describes his work as digital oils. Working freelance from home, he most often uses Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Poser 5.0, and filters in the KPT Collection. With PSD files as large as 2.65 GB he uses hundreds of layers that are then grouped together for facilitation into sets.

Grzegorz has a very engaging and interesting site, Aspius-Art, and an extensive gallery on his deviantART page, which includes a few Flash Animation experiments; Sacrifice being my favorite thus far (HIGHLY recommended viewing).

Merry-Fucking-Xmas

2008-12-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

I'll be out of town for a few days, looking for reindeer to share my shroom stash with as I mount their racks, so I'm leaving this little slice of Christmas cheer to disturb and throttle your brain into weirdsville.

It's quite possibly the most unsettling thing I've ever posted here, and most assuredly a Seed from Hell that I never want any part of.

You've been warned:

Mark Powell

2008-12-22T18:10:00.000-08:00

Mark (seen here at the H.R. Giger Museum) is a 25 year old painter and sculptor from Melbourne, Victoria Australia.

The majority of his sculptures I'll be featuring here will be the miniature scenarios of gore and mayhem that he calls Dream Dioramas. From his website he states:

"I have been working more or less in total isolation for several years, focusing primarily on sculpture. My sculptural works are essentially miniature tableaux where moments are suspended in time. These are moments in dreams, in phantasms..."

Although the themes are somewhat similar, each elaborate piece contains endless tiny details and surprises with each viewing. In fact, several of the photos I've included are small zoomed-in sections taken of a larger work.

Within these scenes of torture chambers, cannibals, morbidity, and horrific creatures there is an odd kind of beauty and elegance that's hard to adequately describe. Nightmarish to be sure, but presented in such a way as to be enticing, making you want more.

Besides his website, his work can be found on his MySpace page, and on Flickr.

Jeffrey Knight Potter

2008-12-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

J.K. Potter is a photographer and digital format artist that works in many fields, including horror, fantasy, science fiction, CD covers and various personal projects.

Initially, he was known exclusively for innovative designs using only B&W darkroom techniques and hand-tinting to achieve amazing and bizarre imagery. Jeffrey now also works with computer programs, expanding his repertoire, while still retaining the disturbing and vivid images he's been known for through many years of intense work.

Mr. Potter has been commissioned to provide designs for films such as 'Shadow Of Doubt' and 'Necronomicon: Book of the Dead', as well as several others in production.

In the arena of books, his illustrations can be found in the fiction publications of J.G. Ballard, Ray Bradbury, Poppy Z. Brite, Lucius Shepard, Ramsey Campbell, Clive Barker, and Stephen King. Stephen King, in particular, is a huge fan of his work, once stating: "...when it comes to imagination, J.K. Potter and I are soul brothers".

There are two main sites, JK Potter & The Blue Dot that feature his work, among a few others with various galleries.

Wayne Douglas Barlowe

2008-12-05T01:45:00.000-08:00

Mr. Barlowe is an artist from Glen Cove, New York with a unique vision and style, often incorporating alien-like environments and creatures--or descents into the bowels of Hell and Occult symbolism. He is the son of Sy and Dorothea Barlowe, a well-respected pair of natural history artists.

Wayne attended the Art Students League and The Cooper Union in New York City. While in college he apprenticed in the Exhibition Department of The American Museum of Natural History.

His first major recognition came from a book he conceived, illustrated and co-authored in 1979, Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials, which was nominated for The American Book Award and the Hugo. The American Library Association voted it Best Book For Young People, and it was chosen Best Illustrated Book of 1979 by the Locus Poll.

For a decade following this first work, he produced over 300 book and magazine covers and illustrations, as well as editorial paintings for Life, Time and Newsweek. Barlowe's second book, Expedition, a natural history journey to another world, consisted of forty paintings, one hundred black and white illustrations and two hundred pages of text, and was published in 1990 by Workman Publishing. It received extremely favorable reviews and was nominated for the Association of SF Artist's 1991 Chesley Award. Expedition was voted a 1991 Best Book for Teenagers by The New York Public Library.

Mr. Barlowe's paintings have been exhibited at The Bronx Museum of the Art's, The Orlando Science Center, The New Britain Museum of American Art, The Society of Illustrators, The Atrium at Park Avenue, The Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut and the Hayden Planetarium in New York. In 1984 he was instrumental in organizing and co-chairing the first SF art show in the history of the Society of Illustrators. The Alien Life of Wayne Barlowe, an art retrospective, was published in 1995, along with a limited edition print entitled Elytracephalid, from Morpheus International.

Two screen-savers utilizing his paintings were released in 1996, also from Morpheus and HarperCollins released Barlowe's Guide to Fantasy, a sequel to Barlowe's first book. In the summer of 1996 Barlowe and James Cowan, publisher of Morpheus, created a development company called Xenophiles, Inc. with the purpose of developing imaginative multi-media properties.

Its first creation, XENOZOO, was sold first to Playmates Toys, and then to Fox Kids Network. Barlowe designed the Artifact, the principal aliens and their homeworld for the two-hour TNT BABYLON5 movie, THIRDSPACE, which aired in the fall of 1998. He contributed alien creature and character designs for the animated 20th Century Fox release, TITAN AE and designed creatures seen in GALAXY QUEST for Stan Winston Studios.

In 2000 Barlowe executed pre-production drawings for BLADE 2 and creature/character designs in 2002 for HELLBOY as well as HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. 2003 brought the next installment, HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE, to his drawing table for which Barlowe once again executed concept art.

Wayne's next book, which was released by Morpheus in January of 1999, is Barlowe's Inferno, a dark and unique vision of Hell. Inferno represents a shift in both Barlowe's thinking and rendering toward a more classical, less narrative, approach.

Of the book, director James Cameron (TITANIC, ALIENS) has said: "Wayne Barlowe's Inferno is an awesome visual work, taking us into a contorted landscape of the damned which Dante himself could never have imagined." In concert with the book's release, Morpheus has published a limited edition giclee, a poster and a bronze created by Barlowe.

In the summer of 1999 Barlowe began work on a screenplay to accompany his art book. In November the completed screenplay entitled INFERNO: REBELLION IN HELL and the book were sold to Fox Feature Animation. In 2001 Barlowe followed up on his first Inferno book with a second venture to Hell entitled Brushfire: Illuminations from the Inferno. This bound portfolio contains 18 new paintings further fleshing out the universe. Barlowe contributed creature designs for Activision's console game DEAD RUSH in 2003.

In 2006 he executed pre-production artwork for THE PRIEST and HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY as well as the highly anticipated film, PARADISE LOST. He also rendered preliminary studies for Relic Entertainment's PROTOTYPE, an upcoming XBox 360 title.

Barlowe works at home with his wife Shawna McCarthy, well-known editor and literary agent, and their two daughters Cayley and Hillary. His novel, GOD'S DEMON, will be published in October 2007 by Tor books. His art and products can be found on his main website, as well as a secondary site, God's Demon. Be In Art also features a few of his works.

Mark Prent

2008-11-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-19T17:20:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-16T02:10:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-09T22:26:00.000-08:00

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

2008-11-03T02:44:00.000-08:00

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.

Dennis Sibeijn

2008-10-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

Dennis, (born 1975) creates his unique brand of Photo Manipulations in Amstelveen, The Netherlands. He is a part-time AV designer at Technicolor Netherlands and is the co-founder and designer at Monument Studio. His work has found a regular audience with a large number of bands--including CD covers, t-shirts and posters.

Although I will be highlighting, for the most part, only his Photo Manipulations in this feature, he is also an accomplished Photographer, as well as working in Graphic Design, 2D/3D Animation, Composting, and Typography. While it is hard to fathom (considering the detail and complexity of his work), Mr. Sibeijn does not rely on any use of stock photos or backgrounds:

"I often read replies like 'great use of stock', I want to make clear I don't use stock, every element in my work has been photographed/painted/modelled by me. Personally I think stock will limit your creative abilities because you're dependent on the vision of someone else, for some this may work but not for me. It can take quite some effort and time to get the right shots for the right work."

Some of you may recognize his art, yet not the name, since he normally uses the moniker damnengine. As a point in fact, I was introduced to the vast and amazing website, deviantART.com, after finding Dennis' work while looking through some galleries of his on beinart.org. Once I saw the amazing stuff he creates, I typed in a search and his deviantART page popped up. He also has an excellent and extensive website of his own at damnengine.net.

Matt Lombard

2008-08-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

Matt hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin (born 1969) and uses instinct when creating his pieces. Without any formal training in art, he began dabbling in B/W photography in 1998, after being a musician for twelve years.

Since that time, he has consistently used various digital techniques and manipulations in most of his work.

His portfolio contains an impressive list of clients, including Cradle of Filth, Michael Ninn, Vasily Konstantin, Delirium Books, Bile, Roadrunner Records, Catalyst Press, Nocturne, Aesma Daeva, Voiceprint, and many others.

Recently completing his 3rd CD project with the U.K.’s dark industrial legends Attrition, 2007 now finds this artist in the realm of enlightenment with his new series “The Trephining”.

His website is highly interesting and features quite a few galleries, prints, T shirts, posters, etc.

Zdzisław Beksiński

2008-06-23T21:56:00.000-07:00

I could honestly write and talk about this artist for days. He is within the top three of my all time favorite painters. Zdzisław's work affects me deeply and his talent is one of the reasons, early in life, for my interest in Dark Art. I saw a sample of his work while quite young, and, gratefully, never was I to approach art the same way. In my own work, it is Beksiński that I emulate.

Zdzisław Beksiński was born in Sanok, Poland on February 24, 1929. He worked as a construction site supervisor before studying architecture in Kraków. He returned to Sanok in 1955. Around this time he became interested in photomontage, sculpture and painting. Even at this early stage his work featured powerful and disturbing imagery that would remain a consistent theme throughout his life. His first major success occurred in 1964 during an exhibition in Warsaw. He worked constantly and obsessively, eventually painting for twelve hour stretches, and longer, while listening to classical music.

In 1977, Zdzisław burned a selection of his works in his backyard that he felt were too personal, refusing to let anyone see them. Some artists, myself included, are known to do this. In my own case, I burn all of them; what comes out on canvas is too raw for others to understand. In Beksiński's case however, it has intrigued many people as to what those paintings consisted of. The many works that he did release to the public are, in my opinion, some of the most personal and visceral ever produced by anyone, ever. But of course it only adds to the mystery of a secluded and very private man. He had little to no interest in his exhibitions and never attended any of them.

Beksiński has often been described as humorous, highly intelligent and an exceptionally intellectual man by those who knew him. He produced his drawings and paintings in two styles: "Baroque" or "Gothic". In the 1990's Zdzisław's life became increasingly difficult and painful. After a long illness with cancer, his beloved wife died in 1998. One year after this, on Christmas Eve, his son Tomasz committed suicide. Beksiński is the one that found his son's body; an event he never fully recovered from. In February 2005, three days before his 76th birthday, Zdzisław was murdered in his flat by the teenage son of his caretaker, and another youth. He was stabbed 17 times for refusing to give the kid a small loan.

Many Galleries, Museums and websites around the world are dedicated to the genius and power of Beksiński's visions. The most interesting website, visually, is from the Belvedere Gallery. I must say this is one of the coolest and well-crafted websites I've ever seen. The graphics, interactivity and music is an experience in itself. Do yourself a favor, go there and spend some quality time.

Another website of note and great significance is the Dmochowski Gallery. Since 1983 Piotr Dmochowski has worked tirelessly on disseminating Beksiński's art throughout the world. Thus far he has produced two monographic albums, several exhibitions, and a book entitled Struggling for Beksiński; as well as managing, for six years, the Galerie Dmochowski, musée-galerie de Beksiński at the Quincampoix street in Paris.

His website has an astounding amount of material on Zdzisław Beksiński, with more to come. Piotr spent a great deal of time with Zdzisław and recorded over 132 hours of conversations with him from 1984 to 1990, some of which can be found on the site. There's also regular updates, interesting details of Beksiński's personal life and philosophy, a three-volume book of correspondence between them, recordings of the music Zdzisław always listened to while painting, and a blog.

The high-quality -resolution gallery containing examples of Beksiński's various styles is truly immense and being added to regularly. Dmochowski's site also features a short film he produced called Hommage à Beksiński, which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986. Piotr Dmochowski is truly dedicated to this amazing artist and willingly gives a great deal of his time and effort in freely sharing the beauty of Zdzisław Beksiński's work. Thank you, Piotr.

Majase Cyc Productions upload page

2008-06-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

Marc Blackie

2008-06-19T01:24:00.000-07:00

Mr. Blackie is a photographer from London that has been shooting his current brand of art since the late 1990's. Although often labeled a Fetish Photographer, he doesn't feel this accurately portrays his themes. His website, Disappointed Virginity features several galleries, interviews and a short biography of sorts. In it he states:

"I know that some people consider my images to be dark, disturbing and all of these things. I see it as being a product of various parts of my mind; my love of the erotic, the female form and sexual fantasy and quite obviously the more sinister underbelly of these things."

Due for release in Autumn of this year is what Marc refers to as his "first proper short film". It is entitled 'A Special Form of Denial'. The trailer is featured on his website and included here:

Marc Blackie's MySpace page includes three musical projects he is involved in. The main venture is called Sleeping Pictures, where he collaborates with Gary Parsons. His side project is Lark Blames with Lloyd James of Naevus; and his solo project is These Papercuts.

H. R. Giger

2008-06-17T19:01:00.000-07:00

As the first installment in this new blog, I can think of few modern artists that are more capable of sprouting Seeds from Hell than H.R. Giger. He has stated that most of his art is derived from night terrors he's experienced in his life.

Hans Ruedi Giger, born in 1940, is a Swiss artist specializing in many fields, including painting, airbrush, pastels, markers and ink. He is also a sculptor and furniture/interior designer. Giger is most famous for creating the creature from the film Alien, based on a painting he did entitled Necronom IV. In 1980 he won an Oscar for that design.

Also in the realm of film, his Harkonnen Capo Chair design was used in the Dune film, directed by David Lynch. Several "Giger Bars" in Tokyo, New York and Switzerland highlighted many of Giger's interior design themes, although most have closed over the years.

His accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but they include working on numerous films, CD covers, computer games, his own museum and guitar designs.
An endless array of websites are dedicated to Giger, including, but not limited to:
Giger.pp.ru
Giger.com
HRGiger Museum
Little Giger
Official Giger MySpace

YouTube has quite a few videos featuring his artwork and one channel dedicated to a new film now out on DVD called: H.R. Giger's Sanctuary.