Marian Henel—Tapestries and Madness
Marian Henel’s tapestries are huge. The largest one measures over 6 m in length and 3 m in width (19 ft. 8 in. by 9 ft. 10 in.). Created in the...
Zuzanna Stańska 25 November 2024
Throughout the history of mankind, art has always been a window to the soul. We have witnessed ethereal beauty, magical nature, bizarre sceneries, and of course, terrorizing events in some of the most impressive works of art. While modern art has depicted scary situations, it is contemporary art that has gone one step further. Imagination and technology have helped artists reach new levels of terror. So, buckle up and get ready for the scary monsters and super creeps in the art for this year’s Halloween!
H.R. Giger is the father of xenomorph, more popularly known as the Alien. However, the extraterrestrial creature is not just part of the famous movies, but of Giger’s entire artistic cosmos. In his series Erotomechanics, eroticism meets horror in a unique and obscure way. In the featured painting, two female figures are in sexual intercourse, in an industrial environment. Their surroundings are suffocating and toxic, leaving them with no room for independence. It is as if the figures are doomed eternally in this situation, without being able to escape, not even in their minds.
With the artistic name Commander of Chaos, the artist creates haunting human-like artworks with monstrous characteristics. The dark Surrealism influences are visible, but he has managed to mold them into his personal style. In Story Twist, there is a male figure whose head is torn up in two. Both heads have a big and bleeding mouth with spiky teeth. Furthermore, the second head has completely white eyes, as if it is the head of a demon. Glued together by melting flesh, cause terror and shock to the viewer. However, the rest of the body is equally creepy. It has open wounds and holes, from where blood and dark essence emerge. Roberto Commandante del Caos Diaz is one of the eeriest contemporary artists, that creates such shocking pieces for all horror lovers.
Welder Wings is the dynamic duo of Francisco Abril and Nuria Velasco. They work together since 2000, and they create beautiful and gothic Surrealist artworks, with extra attention to detail. All of their artworks are a memento mori, that is, reminders of our inevitable death. So, we see the beauty of still-life objects and people mixed with gothic features, that stand for our fleeting time in this world. Every detail is a symbol of time, death, and decay. Such is the case of The Cannibal Flower. Its petals look a little bit like flesh, and its menacing mouth is ready to devour anything that comes close to it. The butterfly and the fly are interesting details that symbolize this decay.
Moving on to a more ethereal, yet equally frightening artist, Phantom Painting is an enigmatic figure. The artist’s artwork looks like vintage photos of the 19th century, but in fact, uses AI and Photoshop. It is impressive how digital art can be so convincing.
Phantom Painting uses AI to create eerie and haunting pieces that, through their resemblance to actual photographs, seem so real. Then, the artist enhances them in Photoshop to create a superlunary feeling. If you have read the Turning of the Screw by Henry James, or any other Victorian ghost story, you will feel like these photos are part of these novels.
David Gough is a British artist who describes his art as “necrosurreal.” If you look closely, this description does not fall far from reality. The core elements of his paintings are creatures from the Underworld. Death is present in various forms in most pieces.
In Grief Crawling from the Ashes, we see a giant spider, whose body has the form of a baby’s head. The baby’s face is lifeless, with a grieving and sad expression. The spider looks like it crawls from its mouth while holding a dead fish with its pincers. The composition consists of dark and gloomy colors to emphasize the feeling of grief and the existence of a far underworld, filled with monstrous entities.
Heavily influenced by the cenobites and Hellraiser, Besançon creates 3D sculptures that include elements of body horror and distortion. His main colors are black, red, and flesh pink. The figures look tormented in a hellish and suffocating reality with no escape. They are always crammed, and their bodies hurt from high dysmorphia. Besançon’s sculptures are definitely not for the faint of the heart, as they are gore and cruel. However, they are perfectly fitting for this year’s Halloween special!
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