Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts

Thursday, October 27, 2022

DARK ARTS: CAPAT’S OTHERWORLDLY WOMEN AND THEIR COMPANIONS

 


Art is a way for us to express and explore the darkness that lives within myth and minds. I'd like to feature some of those strange internal landscapes and their inhabitants as depicted by artist Theodora Daniela Capat.

Originally from Romania, Capat weaves magic worlds out of a variety of mediums--ink, watercolor, charcoal, pencil, oil, and digital--and operates out of an island castle in Sweden called Vaxholm Fortress that can only be accessed by ferry. It sounds incredibly magical and inspiring, and it shows through her immersive imagery.

Capat is a very ambitious artist who values the fundamentals of art and is passionate about teaching them to students who she will tutor hands-on and side-by-side in the castle in which she resides. Some of her favorite themes and studies include culture, anatomy and animals (real and mythical), and mortality.


"Memento Mori" oil painting



"Apparition at a full moon" The creature depicted in this watercolor is an 'iele', a type of Romanian forest spirit that are only visible in moonlight.



"Sun Bringer Kisosen" This charcoal piece is an interpretation of a Native American solar deity who takes the form of an eagle, according to the Abenaki people.



This pencil drawing is called "Serenity". Capat shared that this piece was inspired by intense dreams of floating she was having at the time.



"Pestilence" charcoal


Capat's Website - visit to view the gallery, shop, and find information on the artist Vaxholm Castle

YouTube Channel - you may watch Capat create her artworks via her uploaded livestreams

ArtStation - digital artworks and video game/character concepts

Instagram - the artist is quite actively sharing posts and live streams of her creative process (@capatart)


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

DARK ARTS: Spotlight On HBO's TRUE DETECTIVE

~by Marie Robinson

I think I can speak for a great many people when I say that I am truly, madly, deeply in love with HBO's current original series, True Detective (Sundays @ 9pm est.).
The show, created by Nic Pizzolato, aired last month and is now coming on it's seventh episode. It stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as Louisiana-based homicide detectives Marty Hart and Rust Cohle on a 17-year hunt for a serial killer.
Since there are only two more episodes remaining in the short but inspired first season, I have taken the opportunity to seek out some fantastic SPOILER-FREE examples of fan art. Please enjoy, and if you haven't seen the show yet, it is not too late to discover your latest obsession.
Mike Malbrough (http://mikemal.tumblr.com/)

Ihaveahunger (http://i-have-a-hunger.tumblr.com/tagged/my-art)

John Amor (http://johnamorartist.com/)

Pati Cmak (http://paticmak.tumblr.com/)

Nagy Norbert (http://norbface.deviantart.com/)

Ibrahim Moustafa (http://theartofibrahimmoustafa.bigcartel.com/)

Francesco Francavilla (http://francavillarts.tumblr.com/)

Alisdair Wood (http://woodnart.blogspot.com/)

Victor Melamed (http://mlmd.ru/)
*Editor's note:  True Detective is a favorite of mine as well, so it gets the Fascination with Fear shout-out of approval!  Do check it out, as well as more fantastic art to come in our recurring feature, Dark Arts. / ch

Thursday, February 20, 2014

DARK ARTS: Spotlight On Santiago Caruso

"Pan's Labyrinth"
~by Marie Robinson

Visual art is timeless. Paintings set into frames serve as windows into different worlds, and into their creators’ minds and hearts. In our new ongoing feature, Dark Arts, we would like to open the portals into dark and forbidden places. We want to highlight the artists who bring nightmares to life and create images so grotesquely gorgeous they remain in our thoughts long after we’ve looked away.

S. Caruso
Argentinean artist Santiago Caruso is not only a master of the surreal; he has also found himself a high rank in the horror community.
I wanted to feature him in celebration of the recent cover unveiling of Undertow Books’ upcoming anthology Year’s Best Weird Fiction: Volume One, upon which Caruso’s artwork is featured.

His art has adorned the faces of dozens of other books, among them Holes for Faces by Ramsey Campbell, The Wide Carnivorous Sky by John Langan, and two volumes of Best Horror of the Year.  He has also illustrated a number of books, including a version of Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror and Historias de Vampiros.

Take a look at the pieces I have selected above and below, and go to his website here: (http://www.santiagocaruso.com.ar) for further nightmarish inspiration.


"Lamia"

"The Spectral House"

"Illustrations from Miss Christina"


(cover)  Year's Best Weird Fiction


"Aquelarre"

"Illustrations from Miss Christina"
 
*Are you or someone you know artistically talented and would like to be under consideration for our spotlight?  Let us know how to reach you in the comments!  Thanks!