All around the world, artists with physical and developmental disabilities are using their art practices to share their experiences and produce raw and exciting new narratives of acceptance and adaptation. Throughout the history of art, however, disability has not always been represented favorably or ethically. As Claire Cunningham—a choreographer and dancer who was born with […]
Category: Painting
Nature Illustrations that Venture “Into the Woods” and Beyond
In Stephen Sondheim’s critically-acclaimed musical Into the Woods, characters from several iconic fairy tales are intertwined as they each venture into the one place they’re all unsure of—the dark woods. This is the place where Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack (from “Jack and the Beanstalk”) and others have to leave their comfort zones and […]
Mind-Melting And Eye-Popping Artwork by James Jean
James Jean is a renowned Taiwanese-American artist who has produced work for big-name clients such as DC Comics, Prada, and ESPN. In 2008, he retired from illustration to focus on painting. His style is chaotic, flowing, psychedelic, and eclectic, bearing artistic influences from “Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, and Renaissance portraiture.” Despite this range […]
Hyperrealistic Paintings of Fragmented Faces by Ben Howe
Ben Howe is an Australian artist (born in London) who paints hyperrealistic depictions of sliced and crumbling faces. His series “Surface,” featured here, explores in mind-bending detail the “density, flexibility, and texture of human flesh.” In some cases, the texture of stone is replicated, giving the images and their clean compositions a statue-like appearance. Recurring […]
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 […]
Silence in Purgatory: Paintings by Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen
In the figurative paintings of Norway-based artist Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen, atmosphere takes precedence over form. Exploring what he calls the “dark sides of life,” he paints haunting visions of human bodies drifting in the deep, murky waters of “nihilism, existentialism, longing and loneliness.” While there is the appearance of submission—the figures don’t seem fraught with […]
Playfully Dark Surrealist Paintings by Jose Luis Lopez Galvan
The oil paintings of Mexican artist Jose Luis Lopez Galvan are guaranteed to make you look twice—once for shock, and the second time to soak in the potent symbolism. Combining the bizarre eroticism of Hieronymus Bosch with Cassius Marcellus Coolidge’s low-brow critique of class issues, Galvan inserts his own contemporary style to produce a new breed […]
Esoteric Rites and Wonder in the World of Valin Mattheis
The world of Valin Mattheis is filled with otherworldly creatures, skeletal priests, and moments of transcendental awe. He draws inspiration from a variety of sources, including the symbolist artists, existentialism, Jungian psychology, and religions and mythologies the world over. The two-dimensional compositions and skeletal archetypes seem somewhat reminiscent of medieval art referencing the Black Death, […]
Death and Morality in Macabre Paintings by Kikyz1313
Kikyz1313 is a Mexican artist who confronts the viewer with discomforting representations of “the abject.” As developed by Julia Kristeva, the abject is a term that refers to the more unpleasant details of our earthly existences, such as excrement, disease, death, and decay—all of the natural processes that erode our sense of human superiority and […]