Welcome to the mysterious world of Placide Avantia—an illustrator, tattoo artist, and self-professed alien. Working from Fuscare—her dimly lit studio located in the south of France—Placide Avantia uses black vegan ink and her dark imagination to spawn creatures that otherwise dwell only in nightmares, alternate worlds, and untold myths. From razor-beaked crows to the jagged […]
Category: Birds
Incredible Tiny Skulls Made of Fabric by Lana Crooks
Lana Crooks is a textile artist based in Chicago. At first glance, the delicate skulls she creates appear to be real, adorned with flowers and jewels and displayed in bell jars like magical specimens found in the back of a curiosity shop. Look closer, however, and you can see the intricate textures of wool and […]
Dance and Surrealism in Josephine Cardin’s Self-Portraits
Josephine Cardin is a photographer based in Rochester, New York, whose dreamy portraiture exposes “human themes of loneliness, isolation, melancholy, love, and loss.” Featured here are images from her recent work, all of which are self-portraits. Having trained as a ballet dancer, Cardin incorporates movement, using her body to pose in ways that are indicative […]
Illustration Meets Fashion: Clothing as Moving Art
Sewing is deeply ingrained into our history as human beings. During the Paleolithic era, early humans used bones to fashion crude sewing needles that they’d then use to sew together animal skins with sinew thread. Eventually, this design was refined, with the first known needle-with-eye dating back about 25,000 years ago. Sewing was done by […]
Cryptic Animal Paintings by Josie Morway
Animals have long been used as stand-ins for human morality in fables and fairy-tales, but Massachusetts-based Josie Morway brings them into contemporary consciousness with her beautiful, cryptic portraits. Each painted creature carries an air of agelessness and wisdom, their bodies framed by geometric formations and Latin scripts (one such as phrase states “Faciam ut mei […]
Marian Merl’s Perfectly-Placed Blackwork Tattoos
The placement of a tattoo can be as important as the image itself. A poor location means that the design will bend and twist in strange ways, distorting even the best work. Marian Merl has a knack for for this aspect, and his monochromatic designs flow with the body, sometimes fading into it like a […]
Curious Rebirth: Magical Taxidermy Sculptures by Gerard Geer
Melbourne-based artist Gerard Geer resurrects road kill and other naturally deceased Australian animals by transforming their remains into beautiful skeletal articulations. Among his creations are colorful crystallized skulls, hybridized masks, taxidermy sculptures, and bell jar curiosities. Through a sensitive and creative engagement with his materials, Geer offers us a view into a world where magical […]
A Modern Audubon: Naturalistic Tattoos by Kirsten Holliday
Kirsten Holliday is the John James Audubon of the tattooing world. Focusing almost exclusively on florals and birds, the realistically rendered, naturalistic imagery sprawls across her clients’ bodies. They’re like flipping through the pages of one of his books, “The Birds of America,” as the portraits of creatures showcase how they interact in their natural […]
Andrey Lukovnikov’s Double Exposure Tattoos Inspired by the Digital Era
One thing that Andrey Lukovnikov’s colorful tattoos might remind you of are clipping masks from Adobe Photoshop. The combination of bold, busy imagery with a crisp edge mimics digital imagery—as if these bugs, birds, and feathers are concealing a larger part of an overall picture. And if you watch some of Lukonikov’s videos, it’s clear […]
Adrian Cox Mutates and Reassembles the Body In Nature
Adrian Cox is a Missouri-based artist who paints “Border Creatures”—organic mutants who defy what we staunchly distinguish as “man” and “nature.” Sometimes they appear humanoid—humorously engaging in intellectual activities, such as painting and stargazing—but their bodies are engulfed with organic debris and sprouting plant life, signifying the messy processes of death and rebirth. In other […]