Friday 31 August 2012

Lycanthrope specimen





In honour of tonight's full moon, this is a fitting furry(ish!) treat!

"The prize possession of Edward Harrell, this specimen of a young adult male Lycanthrope was housed in Harrell’s home, in the centre of his Drawing room. Although how and where he obtained the werewolf was never fully explained, Edward treated it with the utmost respect, and was often found staring longingly at it.
After the events of 1819, Edward changed his stance on the treatment of the Lycan race, taking no further live specimens for his experiments in curing the Lupus Viral strain. It is believed that in the year following his attack, Edward struggled to overcome his affliction of Lycanthropy, yet from what evidence there is, his cure worked, and cemented his more ethical approach to biology and the study of this illusive creature.

This piece was given to Lord Merrylin, along with Harrells entire Homo Lupus collection at the end of his life in 1906. Merrylin was very fond of Harrell and from Merrylins diaries, they often traveled together. The Cryptid Collection is still analysing the boxes of diaries pertaining to these adventures, and hopefully more information will arise on the relationship between these enigmatic men."

 http://alexcf.com/blog/?page_id=569

Monday 9 July 2012

Berlinde de Bruyckere

Last week I stumbled across these beautifully disturbing works by Belgian artist Berlinde de Bruyckere and completely fell in love. They're almost too uncomfortable to look at but rather entrancing. If you like that sort of thing. I particularly like the figures with hair, which is something I'm currently exploring in my own work and research. The colour is also rather grotesque, almost corpse like with blushes of rouge. It somewhat reminds me of marble statues, something that's generally accepted as beautiful and grand. These figures though are awkward, raw and painful, twisted up and mysterious. 

The first image is actually a piece I remember seeing a couple of years ago at the Barbican exhibition The Surreal House, although I didn't note the name. I certainly remember going back and forth to it to get another look though. It's all very unsettling, which is why I think these works are wonderful! 
I'm going to be doing an in-depth write up of Berlinde de Bruyckere and her work on my other blog soon as part of my final major and dissertation research.












Thursday 14 June 2012

Laura Makabresku

I stumbled across the work of Laura Makabresku a few weeks back and keep drifting back over her photography. It seems to be inspired by fairy tales, sex, sadness, the delicate, rejection and darkness. I adore her use of taxidermy animals and masks, her girls with their long locks are gorgeously fairy tale-esque but with a soft touch of melancholy and chills.





















"i don't have anything in common with myself. i'm a poet and owl. i'm sensitiveness and empty space. sometimes i feel that i grew up beside death.(i'm inspired by sensitivity and darkness)."

Thursday 7 June 2012

Saturday 2 June 2012

Denise Grünstein

Swedish photographer Denise Grünsteinhas such a beautifully eerie portfolio. Her images hang between being strange, beautiful and otherworldly. I particularly like the end misty child photographs with knitted outfits, masks and dolls. Oh, and the bejeweled collared wolfie of course, a furball with style!














 http://cameralink.com/photographers/denise-grunstein