Monstror

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.

Kris Kuski

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

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.