a curation by speculative mystery author Rick Wayne
Le Cadavre (1894) - Felix Vallotton Xteriors VIII (2004) -- Desiree Dolron Happily Ever Cadaver (2013) -- Grave Robbin' Sam Hardy-har-har... Paintings like Felix Vallotton's "Le Cadavre" (1894) are important in the history of Western art. Prior to the 19th century, almost all depictions of cadavers -- which is to say bodies that are... Continue Reading →
This phenomenal art by Andrey Surnov is called "Evening." Not only is she a wonderfully potent figure, but note the zipper. Night can be undone, which makes her body the dawn. Note how the setting sun hits only her exposed skin. A few more by the artist.
With titles like "Sorry," "Dust," and "Goodbye," the disquieting work of Russian artist Anton Semenov, who goes by the name Gloom82, is steeped in apprehension and dread. Occasionally nightmarish or even whimsical, most of his paintings seem to have been pulled directly from the anxiety dreams that afflict us all in the early hours before... Continue Reading →
As an author and art-lover who has no talent for the visual arts, I'm fascinated by art that tells a story. I'm convinced there are pathways in our neuroanatomy that link our narrative interpretations of both prose and visual art. These connections don't have to be direct or linear. They can be oblique to one... Continue Reading →
It might seem like all fiction tells stories, but that's not true. I read Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities" last week, and like a lot of literature, it didn't so much unfold as describe. At the border of storytelling are books like Lord Dunsany's "The Gods of Pegana," which I'm reading now, or even Lovecraft's "At... Continue Reading →
Wojtek Siudmak (b. 1942) is a highly prolific Polish sci-fi surrealist painter, primarily of book covers and album art. Across the last 50 years, he's produced staggering number of works. In fact, if you're a reader of science fiction at all, then you've surely seen his paintings before. (The Internet Science Fiction Database has a... Continue Reading →
"Five hundred years ago, the chief of an upper hexagon came upon a book as confusing as the others, but which had nearly two pages of homogeneous lines. He showed his find to a wandering decoder who told him the lines were written in Portuguese; others said they were Yiddish. Within a century, the language... Continue Reading →
Félix Labisse (1905 – 1982) was a French surrealist painter and set designer known for his series of blue women and for his demonic figures, which seem like outtakes from the works of Hieronymus Bosch. Although it doesn't quite match the explicit thoughtfulness of Magritte, seven years his senior, Labisse's work is also more accessible, more... Continue Reading →
This digital painting by Christophe Young is called "Post-Race Breather" and I chose it because it's a self-consciously sexy image. This to me is an example of doing it well. Presumably this woman has been racing inside some sci-fi mecha or spacecraft, and she's quite hot. She's sweaty and exhausted from being under that helmet... Continue Reading →
