Musings Across A Continuum

Gothic Photographic Goodies…

Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Creepy Pictures, Horror Art

Greetings and salutations. Whilst I am trying to keep myself distracted awaiting True Blood’s finale this weekend I have been reading some new horror books and watching some movies. However it has been a while since I featured some Horror Art on Musings Across a Continuum, so lets get a little neo-gothic culture shall we?

Amanda Norman is a photographer I came a cross on Twitter. She has her own blog and sells her wares in the forms of print, greeting cards and business cards. Amanda describes her work as follows:

“They say that a picture paints a thousand words, but what about the feelings and emotions it provokes?

My graveyard photography allows the viewer to ponder in thought at the wonders of deathly beauty we seldom see, while some find my dark portraits truly horrifying.

Constant feedback from viewers tells me that my photography is working its charm and I always love to receive feedback from my fans. It allows me to delve into their inner thoughts and this can be quite addictive.

‘She captures the souls of her subjects and feeds off the emotional energy provided by her adoring fans.’

I’m new on the scene of dark and macabre photography and therefore not yet established as an artist. I’ve had a couple of photographs used; one on the cover of a book and the other on a magazine, but as yet, I still yearn for full recognition of my work. Hopefully one day I will have an exhibition in a gallery and see more of my photography featured in magazines, on book and CD covers and even horror posters.

I decided to take up photography in 2004 whilst visiting a beautiful graveyard in a village called Heysham in Lancashire, UK. I had a strong urge to capture my emotions and thoughts to share with others.

What secrets do the dead hide beneath their headstone?
Do the dead still have loved ones that tend to their resting place?
What was it like for them when they lived and how did they die?
If the dead arose, what would their eyes see?

The only planning I do prior to taking photographs is deciding which cemetery to visit or who I’m going to photograph. The rest is then left to my wild imagination and making the correct use of the available lighting.

Currently I love to capture silhouettes against dark brooding skies and take photographs that feature long foreboding shadows. This is developing into a common theme in my work, as I love the atmosphere and the thoughts I conjure up as in, ‘what is actually out there’?
The black subjects hide their true form and therefore the viewer is left wondering more about the scene.”

I love pictures of ye olde head stones and have a little obsession with gargoyles and gothic era angels (which obviously stems from an over exposure to Anne Rice in my developing years!), of which Amanda captures beautifully in some of her work. She also does some creepy shots with chicks and skulls, check out some of her work below and head over to her site for more gothic photographic goodies!

Ms Harker

dark_angel_steeple

kerry-skull-2009

vase-tomb-of-daresbury

Tags: Horror, Horror Art

Read more | Comments (3) | September 12th, 2009

Cute, surreal, unsettling: Mark Ryden

Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Creepy Pictures, Horror Art

Following up from my feature of dark kooky artist Camille Rose Garcia, I present for your consideration Mark Ryden. Mark Ryden is a relatively new artist to my favourites list. His depictions of nubile little girls often surrounded by surreal toys, iconic characters (Jesus, Santa and Lincoln drop by) and at times meat, leave the viewer in a state of confusion. Is this cute, is this messed up, pop culture, or just odd? Either way I think his art rates a mention within the horror genre especially considering the first image below. His bio describes his work as follows:

“Upon first glance Ryden’s work seems to mirror the Surrealists’ fascination with the subconscious and collective memories. However, Ryden transcends the initial Surrealists’ strategies by consciously choosing subject matter loaded with cultural connotation. His dewy vixens, cuddly plush pets, alchemical symbols, religious emblems, primordial landscapes and slabs of meat challenge his audience not necessarily with their own oddity but with the introduction of their soothing cultural familiarity into unsettling circumstances.”

Porcine Tea Party anyone?

Ms Harker

Mark Ryden

Tags: Horror, Horror Art

Read more | Comments (2) | May 25th, 2009

Art that takes us dark and kooky places.

Posted by Ms Harker | Filed under Creepy Pictures, Horror Art

I feel it’s time to share some of the other sides of my horror interests. We have traveled through the dark and twisted forests of TV, film, games and various forms of literature, ducking swooping owls (who are not what they seem), flailing limbs, evil children and women, crab walking upside down.

To enrich our continuing adventure across the musing continuum I thought I would share with you an artist I have recently discovered, via a book given to me be a charming young gentleman, an artist who has quickly become a favourite.

Camille Rose Garcia, is an artist based in Los Angeles, she was born there and grew up in LA in the 1970’s. Her bio states that: “…she grew up in the generic suburbs of Orange County, visiting Disneyland and going to punk shows with the other disenchanted youth of that era.”

Garcia’s work is communicated via cartoon character based creatures, invokes disturbing yet cute images of people and creatures in dark places, enacting the themes of humanities current horrors and challenges. Her work’s maintain an ambience though which she creates by using a palette of certain colours in order to portray her theme. Her sets of work include ‘The Saddest Place on Earth’ and ‘Ultraviolence Land’. The book I recently purchased was ‘The Saddest Place on Earth’, which is a commentary on many things including the war in Iraq, the use of pharmaceuticals and the culturally enforced belief that we must always be happy. The palette used is one of oranges, reds, browns and blacks, merging to greens and purple, conveying a definite feeling of anger, frustration, oppression and disease.

Her work is twisted, cute, yet haunting and I feel it reinforces the thoughts of many, obviously myself included, that animated/cartoon based art can portray and emote some of the evils of our species; causing us to reflect on where we are today and the crossroads of where we should go tomorrow.

Ms Harker