It is with great sadness that I put this blog on hold for health reasons. Hopefully I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, I will keep sharing art regularly through my Instagram, so please follow! I’ll miss it here very much. ❤
Category: surreal
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In the history of this blog, I don’t think I’ve ever had more to say about the topic of a post than I do about about the movie House (Hausu).
The film company approached director Nobuhiko Obayashi about making a film similar to Jaws. And he did…if Jaws were about the horror laden psychedelic journey of 7 giggling Japanese schoolgirls visiting a cannibal recluse and her demonic witch-cat. Did I mention the girls are named Gorgeous, Fantasy, Kung Fu, Melody, Mac, Prof and Sweet?
They proceed to get devoured one by one in the most absurdist fashion imaginable (well, nothing about this movie is actually “imaginable.” It clearly sprang forth from the deepest wellspring of the director’s haunted unconscious). It’s not just as if the movie were made by someone on acid, but as if the movie itself then came alive…and took acid.
I’ll be going back and creating a GIANT album of incredible screen shots from the film (the ones online don’t do any justice), but I needed to share this with you guys immediately.
Believe it or not, I’m put off by a lot of “weird for the sake of weird” films. But this is some next level awesomeness. I hesitate to discuss my favorite scenes because I’m holding each and every one of you accountable for seeing this film, and I don’t want to spoil the fun surprises, which come roughly every 6 seconds.
Yes, that image above is indeed a flying Kung Fu kick from a dismembered lower half of a human body.
Are you running to find this movie yet?
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Vilde Furdal Nymoen paints vertically elongated portraits of (mostly) girls, sans hair, with colorful worlds emerging from the top of their heads.
Each has its own theme, and they look absolutely beautiful displayed as triptychs. What do you think about the intentional omission of hair (I can’t help but be reminded of Eleven in Stranger Things every time I look at this art!)?
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Today I bring you Danish painter Lisa Lach-Nielsen.
Adding to its raw beauty is the highly allegorical feeling of her work. We see her subjects’ wishes, dreams, fears and frailties.
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Years ago, I remember reading about Romanian artist Aitch’s “rebellion against academic anatomy.”
Her quote from the source went as follows:
I chose to work on this project because I always had an issue with the human anatomy. All those years in college and at the university made me so bitter to the academic/strict ways of dealing with the human form in such a degree that, now, my whole style is based on avoiding realistic body shapes and embracing awkward proportions and weird-fun characters.
I love the traditional Romanian style that comes through in much of her work as well. A beautiful fictional anatomy deserves a beautiful coffin, no?
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Christophe Gilland has a very interesting history indeed.
From his artist bio:
Christophe is an Irish-born Czech-Canadian yet French citizen; and after having lived in Orlando (Florida) and Vancouver, (British Columbia) he moved to Prague in 2009. The son of a classical animator, Christophe enjoyed a somewhat fairy-tale childhood spent behind the scenes at Walt Disney World’s animation studios, which played a significant part in his early artistic influences.Themes since explored range from esoteric phenomenon and fairytales to science and alchemical practices. From childlike curiosities, monstrosities and psychology, to man’s relationship with nature, the archaic and the otherworldly.
I especially love his wildly creative take on the “anatomy” of common plants and creatures.
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Matt Dangler has been a favorite artist of mine for quite sometime.
His meticulously crafted paintings are largely inspired by meditative states. We see various symbols, archetypes and cultural icons emerge in ways that make us view them with fresh eyes.
Like all great pop surrealism, this work springs from (and allows us to draw upon our own) subconscious. Each viewer’s experience is unique with this work.
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Mike Winkelmann is one of the most tenaciously prolific creators I’ve ever encountered. He’s on his TENTH year of (nearly) daily art creations, all of which are done from start to finish on the day they are posted. He began this venture as a way to be sure he was always pushing himself to learn new things.
The result is an extensive portfolio of imaginary worlds, drenched in soft neon and populated with all manner of sci-fi creations.
He also makes films, many of which have become Vimeo staff picks.
Few people would have the resolve to create so relentlessly, but I’m glad he does…even if I did spend far too long browsing the archives.
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Camille Rose Garcia is back with another breathtaking solo show at Corey Helford Gallery, opening July 16th.
It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen her work in person, but it’s really a sight to behold.
Her paintings (often very large scale) transport you into a psychedelic wonderland of dark, sickly sweet delights.
Be sure to catch the show if you can!