Note: Contains nudity. In an oil series tilted “8,” Canadian artist Christopher Pew paints shadowy, dystopic scenes imbued with symbolism. Inhabiting the images is a cast of ambiguous characters; stark-nude, masked, and garbed in white, they are bound together by a scarlet scarf, signifying a fidelity of blood and sacrifice in the barren lands. Moving […]
Author: Hayley Evans
New Living Sculptures by Marie-Lou Desmeules
Using thick layers of paint and plastic, Marie-Lou Desmeules performs “surgery” on her models, turning them into living, ephemeral (and oftentimes grotesque) canvases. With an eye for truth and a touch of satire, she explores identity, beauty, and the public image. Featured here are some of her newest works, which include creative icons such as […]
10 Contemporary Canadian Artists Who Reimagine Frontiers
Canadian art has been historically recognized for its representations of the country’s magnificent landscapes. Near the beginning of the twentieth century, the Group of Seven set out to capture Canada’s cultural spirit by painting the transcendent force of the wilderness. Their work reflects the purity, beauty, and mystery of nature—the mythos of the untameable Canadian […]
Conjurer’s Kitchen: Morbid Cake Creations by Annabel de Vetten
Note: Contains images that may be considered graphic and disturbing to some readers. Annabel de Vetten makes cakes that will appeal to your taste buds while disturbing your imagination. Under the name “Conjurer’s Kitchen,” de Vetten constructs icing-covered baked goods that resemble everything from innocent tiered wedding cakes to writhing tentacles and spilling organs. Using […]
Children of the Winter Forest: Dara Scully’s Poetic Photography
Note: Contains nudity. Dara Scully is a self-professed “forest-creature, winter child” who instills poetry into her haunting photography. Scully’s works are like gothic fairytales, exploring the human psyche through complex metaphors and esoteric symbols: nude figures lie in strange constellations on the grass, ghost-eyed children peer at the viewer, and dark forests encroach on the […]
Creepy Crocheted Animal Skeletons by Caitlin McCormack
Caitlin McCormack is a Philadelphia-based artist who crochets delicate skeletons using cotton string stiffened with glue. Her brittle creations—which include birds, small mammals, and bizarre hybrids—resemble archeological specimens, pressed in the earth and decayed by time. They writhe, unravel, and cluster together, embodying both the despair of extinction and the persistence of memory. Images © […]
Motelscape: A Surreal Full-Room Critique of Fantasy and Commodified Desires
As part of last year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, multimedia artists Marina Fini, Signe Pierce, Sierra Grace, and Sydney Krause created “Motelscape,” an otherworldly full-room installation located in a love suite of the Miami Princess Hotel. Every object was specifically designed to convey a sense of replicated and illusory reality, such as the translucent plexiglass […]
Placide Avantia Tattoos the Dark Aesthetics of Nature and Geometry
Placide Avantia is a tattoo artist based in Aix-en-Provence, France. Combining animal imagery with geometric shapes and esoteric symbols, she etches (using vegan ink) the darkest aspects of nature, illuminating the symmetry, spiritualism, and cycles of life and death that permeate the natural world. She works from her private studio Fuscare, which she designed with […]
Battlefields of Identity: Bryn DC’s Cinematic Explorations of Gender and Power
“Future Fatigue” is a series by photographer Bryn DC that represents the conflict and violence perpetuated by hyper-masculinity and gender inequality. Working alongside feminist artists, writers, and filmmakers, Bryn arranged apocalyptic scenes where the models—dressed up as gang members and renegades—posed in bright, bold defiance to conventional notions of femininity and the male gaze. Makeup […]
Dancing Distortion: Bodily Traces In Frederic Fontenoy’s Photography
In 1988, French photographer Frédéric Fontenoy composed “Metamorphosis,” a series of self-portraits that abstract the body within wild landscapes. Using the analog process with a panoramic camera, he moved (or, as he describes, “danced”) for 2-3 seconds before the lens, transforming his figure into overlapping traces of itself. By dissolving the human figure into a […]