Dennis Cooper + Gisèle Vienne
These eerie, alluring, adolescent life-size dolls were created for the theater/performance pieces collaborated on by writer Dennis Cooper and Gisèle Vienne since 2004. As Cooper says, “We consider the dolls to be actors in our works almost on a par with the human performers, and, although the dolls aren’t credited individually in the works, they each have names and fictional biographies constructed by Gisele. These biographies are used to determine which roles might be suited to their ‘personalities’. Some of the dolls have been featured in multiple works, and several have played both male and female roles.”
Tags: bizarre, blood, dolls, eerie, expressive, innocence/menace, life-sized, lolita-esque, performance art, sinister arts and crafts, surreal, symbolism, theater, trauma, uncanny, white
Chrystal Chan
Tags: animals, dark fairy tales, deer, illustrations, innocence/menace, modern fairy tales, neo-victorian, pop surrealism, realism, symbolism
Hell House: The Art of Esao Andrews
Esao Andrews combines a colorful palette with a Gothic sensibility. Some of his paintings are twists on traditional portraits from earlier epochs akin to the work of Nicola Samorì. Wildly dilapidated and foreboding houses are a recurring motif, and, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson‘s psychological horror stories, depict the inner, psychical falling apart, decay, distortion, and warping. Fairy tales and folklore, including Pinocchio and Thumbelina, loom in the forefront with menacing or perverted appeal. In some works, his vibrant style illustrates the bizarre, the obscene, and aberrations, contrasting atrocious or monstrous things such as a giant, bloated black spider with a symbol of sweetness, purity, and elevation such as a child or an angel. Some of his illustrations are cartoonish, charmingly retro, with a dark, whimsical sense of humor, while others are realistically rendered and Dali-esque, while yet others are macabre and lovelorn, bloody tale-telling depictions.
Tags: (twists on) traditional art, dark, illustrations, innocence/menace, macabre, modern fairy tales, monsteresque, neo-victorian, pop surrealism, portraits, realism, religious imagery, spiders, surreal, symbolism, victorian
New Realism: The Art of Korin Faught
Taking cues from classical art (she is a self-confessed devotee of the Dutch master Vermeer), Korin Faught paints beautiful, realistic, and surreal portraits of women, in white dresses and Dutch caps, often in groups or interactions of enigmatic/symbolic meaning; a striking blend of the modern and the traditional, a balance between a crisp and precise style, and an expressive and sharply imaginative quality. I love the whiteness contrasted with the touch of melancholy to the atmosphere and the vague sense of twisted foreboding.
Tags: (twists on) traditional art, classicism, femininity, korin faught, mystical, photorealism, puritanical, realism, religious imagery, religious symbolism, sexuality, symbolism, twins/doppelgangers/doubles, virtuoso, white
Neo-Victorianism + Japanese Inspiration + Consumer Whoredom: The Art of Alex Gross
The Victorian era, traditional Japanese art and contemporary Japanese pop culture, super-consumer culture, mid-century America, classic Christian iconography, poster art, ironic/mystical symbolism, and ice cream cones all mix together in Alex Gross’ bright, colorful brand of Pop Surrealism.
Tags: (twists on) traditional art, 1950s, animals, classic hollywood, colorful, consumerism, edo-period japan, geisha-inspired, neo-victorian, nurse, pop surrealism, religious imagery, retro, symbolism, victorian
Agostino Arrivabene
Tags: (twists on) traditional art, classicism, colorful, greek mythology, medieval inspiration, mystical, realism, religious imagery, renaissance, symbolism, virtuoso
Andrea Galluzzo
{from Andrea Galluzzo’s Know Myself in All My Parts series}
Tags: art nudes, black and white, emotive photography, expressive, mystical, sweet/melancholy, symbolism
Sub Rosa: The Art of Christopher Conn Askew
Chris Conn Askew’s gorgeous illustrations, prominently featuring the color red, filled with cryptic symbols, remind me of so many different influences, ranging from Soviet propaganda, to Japanese prints, to fables, Art Nouveau, vintage posters, tattoo art, and the Victorian era.
Tags: animals, aristocrat, blood, historically inspired, illustrations, modern fairy tales, posters, red, surreal, symbolism
Joanna Chrobak
Joanna Chrobak is an amazing contemporary Polish artist. Heavily influenced by medieval and Renaissance art, her paintings are beautiful, surreal, strange, with an old-world sense of stateliness, and filled with mystic symbolism.
Tags: (twists on) traditional art, art nudes, classicism, distorted bodies, joanna chrobak, macabre, medieval inspiration, mystical, realism, renaissance, surreal, symbolism, triptychs, twins/doppelgangers/doubles, virtuoso
Satanic Reveries: Paintings by David Stoupakis
David Stoupakis’ meticulously crafted, realistically rendered, colorful paintings contrast innocence with sin and corruption, and are reminiscent of medieval religious paintings, inverting that religiosity with a sinister perspective. His work reflects the influence of past, traditional art, evoking an almost classic sense of harmony, in the way that the paintings are composed and the backgrounds are rendered, and his subjects are also drawn from the Victorian era.
In my very humble opinion, Catholicism is the sexiest of the major religions, with the most striking visceral/visual impact, and Stoupakis uses his subversion of that element to create a sense of enthrallment and delight in his self-contained, perfectly framed paintings filled with symbolic objects and done in bold colors.
Tags: apples, children, classicism, cryptic, david stoupakis, innocence/menace, modern fairy tales, neo-victorian, pop surrealism, religious imagery, symbolism, twins/doppelgangers/doubles
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