And then, God died…but God is anything but dead in the ink drawings of Gromyko Semper, and the gods that inhabit Semper’s works are complex and challenging in their presentation. He draws us into a world of seemingly opposite concepts, juxtaposing sex and religion in a way that celebrates both and neither at the same time. Jesus and Gaia in a furtive embrace lay next to Satan, blowing his horn in triumphant glory. There is an aspect of gore in his drawings, but it is restrained, hinted at, a decoration rather than the centerpiece. His style of ink drawing transports the viewer centuries back in time, a scribe detailing the vivid imagery that illuminates his wisdom. Semper asks the viewer to delve into his intellect, searching its’ depths for the myriad of ideas and meanings that dwell in the ink lines of his stories. These stories are compiled in his book, Sacrae Particulae ex Nihilo, a collection of his ink drawings, available here. After the jump, enter the kingdom of fear, love and lust with Gromyko Semper…

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Greetings, i believe it would be appropriate to say the pieces designed by Spacebrain seem to come from another dimension. Born in Germany now living in Oslo and adapted a fascination with horror and biomechanism, René M. Hamel started to craft weird experimental sculptures. Looking like real life versions of some of H.R. Giger’s or Hieronymus Bosch paintings although sligtly more obscure and complex. His work often involves a lot of household materials and handmade items. The immense amount of work put into them are truly commendable. His exposure has reached various groups of people, and has also built some stage pieces for Mayhem! Some common elements seem to be gasmasks, bones, tubing, goggles, knives, armour, etc.

Check out some more of the sculptures here http://www.spacebrain.no/gallery.html and after the jump. READ MORE…

Kim Carlsson from Lifelover and Hypothermia has quite a mentally different persona from almost everyone in this world. He was the original member of the former, and often stood out from the other members. He was known to mutilate himself on stage, and take copious amounts of drugs before the shows. He also is an amateur painter, whether or not he continues to is not known. But all pieces are made with coffee, ink/water and his own blood. Finished on heavygrain cardboard stock, the blood, as it dries and the cells die it creates a texture and gets darker on the canvas.

Only 6 exist to my knowledge but you can see below if you are not turned off. Check out the morbid paintings here READ MORE…

Michael Aerts is a Belgian artist who makes  minimalist sculpture that ask answerless questions and walk with you in your dreams. All of his sculpture’s evoke death and embrace the feeling of timeless dread, though from the perspective of realization. It is fear revealed and therefore resigned. Fear becomes tangible and accessible and your ally. One aspect of these sculptures that I find fascinating is the conveyance of isolation and confusion. Many artist try to accomplish this and fail grandly, largely because the location in which the medium is presented must not detract from the medium itself, and showing all of these pieces in an open space allows for crushing vastness and titanic silence. Personally the piece entitled BADMAN is my favorite. In it’s crass simplicity it stands as an image of the crucifixion with batwings, evocative of something mysterious and intrinsically terrifying or evil. In addition to sculpting Michael Aerts is also a skilled painter, and i strongly advocate checking out his work but first Stroll through the hall of looming structures after the fall.

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A while back, I did a post on the metal battle jacket, or kutte, and it’s proved to be one of our most popular, so here’s a part two. Again, I searched T-shirt Slayer for some of their finest examples of what is a staple of the metal wardrobe, after long hair and a band tee. Anyone whose ever tried to make one of these knows how painstaking the process is, from the placement of the patches and studs to the actual stitching and studding. These works of art can sometimes take months or years to fully complete, and others are in a constant state of progression. I have so much respect for the effort and artistry that has gone into these vests, regardless of how I may feel about the bands they are repping, or the flowery sheet or shag carpet that makes up the background of the photo, I can’t fault their dedication or talent when it comes to making a killer piece of clothing. After the jump, check out a mega epic gallery of battle jackets…

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Cultivation of surrounding primitive cultures, evolution through self education, and complete spiritual ties to the flesh; these are all things that Marc Riedmann, better known as Little Swastika, manifests. He came into his own at a young age, and from starting out on a swiss army knife, I think it’s safe to say he’s certainly come a long way in his arts of the flesh and otherwise, as today he is viewed as a prodigy amongst the body-mod culture. While he has evolved into 21st century tattooing techniques, he still maintains a love for reverting to traditional means of tattooing. The DIY approach has really been all that he’s known, and the “‘build something new and then have a go at it’ approach is something,” he says, “I find deeply fascinating…” This do-it-yourself, street lifestyle he grew up knowing reflects in his work and seems to be responsible for his entire aesthetic; an aesthetic which comprises ornate and detailed imagery with raw, sketchy lines and technique.

Tattooing and body modification can be viewed as mere extensions upon the soul, and our means of merging the material with the spiritual. In some cultures, the swastika represents creation, which alone is the sole reason we are the beings we are. If we do not create, we cannot destroy, and if we cannot or will not destroy, we refuse to fully live.

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Karlynn Holland has made good on her promise to make Dreams Were Made For Mortals into an ongoing series of group shows, and Dreams Were Made For Mortals II is happening this Sunday, September 25th, at St. Vitus Bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Holland is curating this one-day-only group show, inspired by and named after the track “Living Backwards,” from St. Vitus’ fifth album, V, and it will be hosted by David Castillo and Samantha Marble. For those of you who didn’t make it to the first of the series, make sure you head out to this show, because the first one looked like an epic time, and this one features some awesome artists, like Dilek Baykara, Karlynn & Sam themselves, and a bunch of other rad people. This is your chance to support some seriously creative people, who create to stay sane, and not to be some celebrity artist douchebag. There also promises to be rad music and cheap beers. Despite the 80 degree weather and incessant sunshine over here, I envy you New Yorkers who have the chance to be a part of something magical. Do my Cali ass a favor and head over to St. Vitus Bar, 1120 Manhattan Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11222, this weekend…

Dreams, frequently, are broadcast across neural pathways in vibrant color. They are so vivid, the dreams feel more real than waking life. It haunts me. Life feels like the dream, a series of passing moments. As I rise from paralysis, they evaporate from memory. How could something so real fade so quickly? I often find myself asking this question. Explore the dawn hours of your fervent mind with work that exposes our perishable nature and echoes human frailness so often deified by gods of rock and roll.

Mid (a.k.a. Rob Middleton) when not playing in pioneering crust band Deviated Instinct, he provides breathtaking art for bands like Napalm Death, Gorefest, Disfear, Hellshock, Extreme Noise Terror, Stormcrow, Stampin` Ground, Prophecy of Doom and Optimum Wound Profile to name a very small few. His art style is very much his own, ranging from digital, pen and ink to painting. His style of crows, skulls, bones, gasmasks, stitched lips and scratches really capture the feel of the bands he has done work for. And are a familiar face on a lot of our favourite album sleeves since 1985. And like his band, his illustrations have had a great influence on many.

He now has just started the ‘Bonehive‘ facebook page. Which now takes the place of his now defunct portfolio website that was going since 1999.

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I am always on the lookout for art that I haven’t covered, since I tend to lean heavily towards illustration and paintings. So when I stumbled upon Alex Gillies via my post on Murdoch Stafford, I was stoked to see that not only do I love his prints, but he is doing something out of the ordinary by making hand-carved woodblock relief prints. My intro to his work was through his collaboration piece with Murdoch for a show at Nine Lives Gallery in Brisbane, where Alex carved and printed one of his massive illustrations – a piece called “When the Demon Knife Weeps”. To say that carving out each minute detail of this epic piece would be difficult is an understatement. And Gillies has only been working with woodcuts for the past three years. So yeah, pretty impressive. A perusal of his blog and gallery of works also found me in awe of the depth of his prints, both emotionally and artistically. Although Gillies doesn’t always create with the macabre in mind, a lot of his work features dark subject matter and the black space in his prints highlights the sense of loneliness and despair that many of his pieces invoke recognition of in the viewer. They are a stark view of reality, literally so when it comes to his “Feel Free to Laugh” series, which juxtaposes disturbing images of 20th century wars with TV show titles like “WWII – The Biggest Loser” or “Vietnam – Big Brother (Eviction Special).” I appreciate his sense of humor, especially when I live in a country that has existed in a state of constant war for at least the past 10 years (some would, correctly, say the past century), and yet American Idol gets a far better voter turnout than the Presidential elections. Not that there’s anything to vote for, we should just tear the whole system down, but that discussion is for a later date. For now, check out Gillies’ carved woodflesh prints, and also a look behind the scenes of his and Murdoch’s “When the Demon Knife Weeps”…

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Dave McKean is one of my favourite artist and source of inspirations, this multi-talented English artist works with various mediums such as illustration, photography, graphic design and also filmmaking. He is also a jazz pianist, and a comic artist who has worked with DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics. His work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, collage, digital art and sculpture, creating somekind of abstract and surreal imagery. He has created some of my favourite album artworks from various solo artists/bands such as: Tori Amos, Buckethead, Alice Cooper, Fear Factory, Testament, Kreator, Front Line Assembly, My Dying Bride, Project Pitchfork and Skinny Puppy just to name a few. I really love the way he use ‘delicious’ texturings, unique placement of typography and (sometimes with the use of) vibrant colors, I’m not ashamed to admit that he absolutely plays a big role in developing my artistic sense. After the jump, check out some rad cover artworks by Dave McKean!

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