Dusty Ray makes art for “strange but discerning” people who enjoy “a touch of weird in their life”—and you’ll very quickly see this is true. Working mostly in gouache, watercolor, and Micron pens, he brings to life surreal mutant beasts. Wolves, bears, and other North American animals (as well as the odd human) are unveiled […]
Category: Monsters
Mysterious, Occult-Themed Embroidery by Adipocere
Adipocere is the alias of a Melbourne-based artist who makes occult-themed embroideries on linen (and sometimes his own hand). Black cats, oversized spiders, wise skeletons, and disemboweled maidens are some of his recurring characters, all stitched in a minimalist color palette. Death and darkness pervade his work (the word “adipocere” itself refers to a waxy […]
Darkened Ink: An Interview with Placide Avantia
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 […]
Spooky, Sexy, and Potentially Deadly: Tattoos by Sewp
Sewp is a Toronto-based artist who works out of Holy Noir Tattoo and guest spots around the world. He is also an illustrator and street artist, and much of his tattoo art is influenced by these mediums. Known for his dark, mysterious, and often-erotic style, Sewp’s work is characterized by shadowy-faced girls with piercing white […]
Modern Alchemy: Symbolic Paintings by El Gato Chimney
El Gato Chimney is a self-taught artist based in Milan. His colorful paintings are a form of modern alchemy, combining the aesthetics of medieval art (the 9th and 10th centuries) with steampunk culture, pagan symbolism, street art, and surrealism. In each piece, anthropomorphic animals and uncanny hybrids populate Bosch-like fields, gathering to perform arcane rites […]
10 Imaginative Japanese Science Fiction Movies
Modern Japanese science fiction was birthed in nuclear fire at the close of World War II. It left a sobering impression of the dangers of technology that can be felt to this day, and it created a generation of directors who are keenly aware of how delicate their mortality is. Science fiction is a medium […]
Vivid Fantasy Imagery with a Dark Twist by Ransom & Mitchell
Ransom & Mitchell is an artistic duo based out of San Francisco, comprised of Stacey Ransom (designer, digital artist) and Jason Mitchell (director, photographer). Together, they produce vivid, story-filled fantasy images. Their process starts from the ground up, combining set design, costuming, and prop construction with computer graphics. Drawing influence from the “Italian and Dutch […]
Rot and Transformation: Necrorealist Art by David Van Gough
I invite you to lose yourself in the hallucinatory nightmare-worlds of David Van Gough; between the fire-spewing man-lion and the devil wearing an American combat uniform, it’s entirely possible to stumble across an esoteric symbol or two (or three, or ten). Hailing from Liverpool, Van Gough is a self-proclaimed “Necrorealist” (emerging out of Leningrad in […]
Disembodied Rebirth: Charcoal Artworks by Aurore Lephilipponnat
Aurore Lephilipponnat is a French artist who incorporates Japanese Butoh dance into her charcoal drawings. Her visions often comprise of female or hybrid bodies who move gracefully across the page, suspended in various stages of life, death, and decay. In an interview with Artists of France, Lephilipponnat explains how Butoh is an art form capable […]
Cake Fangs: Sweetly Lethal Sculptures by Scott Hove
Scott Hove is an LA-based artist who turns the ingredients of beauty and violence into colorful, snarling cakes. As part of an ongoing project called “Cakeland,” these sculptures explore “the process of re-integrating light and dark, [moving] from a false dualism to a true whole.” While the juxtaposition of sweetness and savagery may be the […]