“Humantropy” is a word coined by artist Philip Ob Rey to describe the decline of civilization in an age of renewed chaos. To explore this concept, Ob Rey constructed spectral giants made out of VHS tape and found natural objects (feathers, stones, and seaweed) and photographed them in the frozen, brooding plains of Iceland. Each […]
Author: Hayley Evans
10 Rogue Taxidermy Artists Who Create Imaginative Sculptures
The art of taxidermy has been practiced for a long time; the ancient Egyptians embalmed and entombed cats, birds, and other creatures. Over the millennia, animals have been mounted as hunters’ trophies and museum artifacts. It is an odd practice, one that is traditionally pulled between human pride, symbolism, and a desire to memorialize deceased […]
The Provocative Bondage Photography of Nobuyoshi Araki
Note: Contains nudity and sexual references. Nobuyoshi Araki is a photographer known for his provocative photographs of sexuality and Kinbaku-bi, the art of Japanese bondage. For decades, Araki’s work has been the subject of controversy, pulled between the categories of art, erotica, and pornography. While his work may cause discomfort for some viewers, his compositions […]
The Arcane Passion of Carly Janine Mazur’s Dark-Haired Women
Note: Contains nudity. Carly Janine Mazur is a Connecticut-based artist who paints cryptic yet passionate portraits of dark-haired women. Some kind of “offering” is often taking place, whether it’s a human heart in the hands of a cybernetic ghoul, or a fish held aloft in a shamanic exchange. There is a pervading sense of solitude, […]
Mercenaries of the Apocalypse: The Art of Yuri Shwedoff
Moscow-based artist Yuri Shwedoff tells a passionate and imaginative story about survival in the apocalypse. Set in barren wastelands, his melancholic warriors wander alone, armed with medieval weapons and practicing unearthly magic. Children and animals are recurring motifs, used as symbols of sacrifice and loss in the merciless terrain. A dual sense of loneliness and […]
Gerard Schlosser’s Intimate, Hyperrealistic Paintings of the Body
Note: Contains nudity. Gerard Schlosser is a French artist who paints hyperrealistic images of body parts. He takes photographs and then isolates a part of the scene, such as an exposed breast or waist. Each painterly fragment is mysterious, and Schlosser has a way of instilling intimacy into surprising places. What is left outside the […]
Dragan Ilic Di Vogo’s Symbolic, Hallucinatory Worlds
Note: Contains nudity. Dragan Ilic Di Vogo is a Belgrade-based painter who combines fantasy imagery with surrealism in passionate, dreamlike sequences. His deserts—inhabited by warrior women, stone angels, and floating objects—are reminiscent of the bizarre, symbolic landscapes of Salvador Dalí. With an ancient poeticism, Di Vogo’s works explore the edges of consciousness by dissolving the […]
10 Photographers Who Tell Stories with Controversial Imagery
Photography has long been a window into our social psyches, capturing not only scenes of beauty, but also the hidden underbellies of human experience: decadence, struggle, violence, passion, and despair. The word “controversial” is often used to describe these artists, because they rupture and/or critique the boundaries of normativity, thereby causing discomfort. Below is a […]
Bear Kirkpatrick’s Passionate and Sacred Photography
Note: Contains nudity. Bear Kirkpatrick is a photographer who ventures deep into the wilderness, seeking “hierophanies.” The term derives from the theories of religious historian Mircea Eliade, referring to moments when the sacred realm breaks into the profane (the material, everyday world). Kirkpatrick’s portraits feature nude figures in beautiful, tortured communion with the earth. In […]
Tender Sacrifice: The Photography of Ines Kozic
Ines Kozic is a French photographer who decorates youthful bodies with symbols of sorrow, contemplation, and death. Insects are a recurring motif in her work, representing the transience of life and material processes of decay. Her more recent black and white images explore the feminine form in dark relation with the forest, drawing on fairy […]