Christopher McKenney is a Pennsylvania-based photographer who combines surrealism with horror. We featured his work in 2013, but in the years since he has created a fascinating body of new work. The images featured here center around McKenney’s recurring motifs of facelessness and fragmentation, which together symbolize the universalizing power of death; shrouded figures appear […]
Author: Hayley Evans
Smoke, Tentacles, and Myth: Photography by Valeria Chorozidi
Valeria Chorozidi is a fine art photographer from Greece who is ever-drawn to the darkness of things. Until recently, she shot mostly self-portraits inspired by ideas that came to her late at night. While she also now works with other models, self-portraiture continues to serve as an important creative outlet for her personal and aesthetic […]
Sinister Visions: Blackwork Tattoos by Robert Borbas
Róbert Borbás (aka, Grindesign) is known for his incredible blackwork tattoos—and deservedly so. Along with strong lines and flowing compositions, Borbás harnesses the subtle nuances of black and gray ink to produce deep, lush, gothic scenes haunted by demonic animals, moldering skulls, and the restless undead. Much of his imagery derives from themes of the […]
Growing Hybrid Mythologies: Update on Caitlin Hackett
Warning: Contains nudity. Hybridity is the law of nature in the visceral, organic artworks of Caitlin Hackett. We featured her in 2012, but she has been busy in the years since, producing visionary paintings and illustrations of humans and animals embroiled in rituals of sacrifice and rebirth. As roots and fungus sprout from dying bodies, […]
Animal Oddities: Dreamy and Dark Sculptures by Erika Sanada
The innocence of Erika Sanada’s animal sculptures is somewhat deceiving. They resemble gentle spirits with glowing white eyes and pale skin, but each one is plagued by dark dramas and terrifying anomalies; canines tear into each other’s flesh, small creatures lie dead, and bodies fuse and mutate. Naming her current body of work “Odd Things,” […]
10 Erotic Arthouse Films Exploring the Complexity of Love and Desire
Desire is fluid and fluctuating, and few forces are as powerful in their influence over our bodies and minds. Deriving from eros, the Greek word for desire, eroticism is the philosophical examination of love and desire as they manifest in literature, photography, film, and other art forms. Eroticism charges human stories with tenderness and connection, […]
The Selfie Apocalypse: Marvelous Mutants by Mothmeister
The artistic duo known as Mothmeister brings taxidermy to life in nightmarishly endearing photoshoots. Combining perished and preserved animals with models dressed up in masks and begrimed clothing, they create Frankenstein-esque humanoids who behold the camera with a shameless sense of pride. The barren, apocalyptic backgrounds provide the perfect settings for the artists to parody […]
Angelarium: The Ancient, Cosmic Divinities of Peter Mohrbacher
Chicago-based illustrator Peter Mohrbacher personifies the forces and guardians of the cosmos. In 2005, upon discovering the thousands of named angels that existed throughout the world’s mythologies, Mohrbacher began his “Angelarium” project. Each of the ethereal creatures in his gallery is portrayed within imaginative alternate dimensions, contextualized by their watery, earthen, and celestial elements. While […]
Identity in the Raw: Paintings by John Reuss
The Denmark-based artist John Reuss paints abstractions of the face and body that explore alienation and the chaos of subjectivity. He works intuitively, merging consciousness with unconsciousness, building layers of paint, getting lost, reclaiming the image, and adding the finishing details with highlights and shading. The rawness of his process reveals the myth of inner […]
Patterns of Sorrow in the Photography of Misha Gordin
Misha Gordin is a conceptual photographer born in Latvia during the Soviet occupation. Over the course of several decades, Gordin has produced stunning images using shadows, shapes, and crowds, distilling the gamut of human experience into a single, piercing moment. Recurring themes include fear and alienation, resistance and collapse, the struggle for identity in a […]