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 […]
Category: Skulls
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, […]
The Untamed: Woodsy, Witchy Photography by Amanda Bullick
Amanda Bullick is a Vancouver-based photographer, jewelry designer, and visual artist whose work centers around the “brutally beautiful”; bones, witches, magic, and the forest converge in a spectral aesthetic that contemplates the cycles of life, death, and rebirth. Her photographs seek to reclaim “the witch,” who is a female figure with dark implications in the […]
10 Artists Who Have Produced Remarkable Skull Tattoos
As humans, we’re intimately tied to the skull—it’s not only a part of us, but it represents something much greater than ourselves. The ultimate symbol of death; a stark reminder of our own mortality. Throughout history, artists and writers have meditated on this passing with the skull as the introductory point. Shakespeare’s Hamlet famously does […]
Portraits of Fear by Magdalena Pacewicz
“I still feel fear, but I like to smile,” writes Magdalena Pacewicz, describing the ambivalent subjects of her ghostly overlay photography. Based in Wroclaw, Poland, Pacewicz mixes digital technology with traditional media to create black-and-white portraits, melting together facial features with ghoulish eyes and lipless mouths. Seeking to dive deep into the human psyche, Pacewicz […]
Darkly Seductive Photography by Funnylens
Note: Contains nudity. The nude photographs of Bangkok-based Funnylens (Tanate Chantanakorn) are stylishly macabre. Channeling an underlining angst, the models curl up in smoky water and large iron tubs, their exposed body parts accentuated by ink-black shadows. Some of them are holding skulls and doll faces over their own; others are strewn with flowers. By […]
Self-Proclaimed “Creepster” Rachel Dreimiller Has a Gift for Spooky Embroidery
Rachel Dreimiller’s online moniker is “Spooky Ghoul” and she describes herself as a “Gothic Granny” and “creepster.” Her embroidery art is heavy on skulls and bony hands, a juxtaposition that turns a typically homey medium modern and edgy. The artist herself is equally contradictory; along with a love of zombies and Poe, she’s borderline obsessed […]
Sinister Visions: Blackwork Tattoos by Robert Borbas
Róbert Borbás (aka, Grindesign) is known for his incredible blackwork tattoos—and deservedly so. Along with strong lines and flowing compositions, Borbás harnesses the subtle nuances of black and gray ink to produce deep, lush, gothic scenes haunted by demonic animals, moldering skulls, and the restless undead. Much of his imagery derives from themes of the […]
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, […]
Jennifer Angus’ Spectacular Wallpaper Comprised of 5,000 Bugs
Artist Jennifer Angus has produced a site-specific installation that lines hot pink walls with 5,000 real insects. Appropriately titled “In the Garden,” she uses their bodies to produce an intricate, ornamental wallpaper that features iridescently-colored stag beetles, cicadas, and other bugs that are the size of a human fist. Together, these southeast Asia-based creatures form […]