“Love, dreams, and darkness” describe the exploratory, visceral work of photographer Seanen Middleton. Fascinated by the human psyche and what happens when you explore the outer edges of consciousness and reality, he produces visions of the world that are meant to inspire and enlighten us. Sometimes these visions are dark; it is not uncommon to […]
Category: Magic
Priestess of the Dystopia: The Artwork of Ashley Joncas
Ashley Joncas is a Seattle-based artist and the founder of the multidisciplinary studio énigme. Combining minimalist aesthetics with “deep atmospheric qualities of an ominous color spectrum,” Joncas’ portfolio is a window into a bleak yet beautiful world. Rain-swept horizons and wandering cloaked figures ignite the imagination, producing a somber yet wistful mood. Joncas is an […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Dissected Splendor: Nunzio Paci’s Visionary Anatomy Paintings
Nunzio Paci is an Italian artist who paints aged human bodies caught between evisceration and rebirth. He is interested in mutation and our relationship with nature. Recalling the anatomy illustrations of the Italian Renaissance, Paci reinvests an age-old admiration of the body’s structures with a figurative exploration of mortality and the spirit; as veins and […]
The Mystical Masks and Other Worlds of Léonard Condemine
Note: Contains nudity. Léonard Condemine is a French mixed-media artist interested in identity formation and alienation. Since 2010, he has been crafting cryptic masks, decorating them with feathers, mirror shards, and painted geometric shapes. Each mask is contextualized in his ethereal photographs, which show the masked figures worshipping unseen gods under star-strewn skies and in […]