The Fascinating Monsters of Artist Aeron Alfrey

 Aeron Alfrey creates unique imagery inspired by strange fantasy worlds filled with monsters, magic and death. His art has been published in numerous books and shown in galleries around the world. His monsters, perfect for our “12 Days” feature, are often frightening, but all are so intricately designed that every time you look closely something else […]

Necessary Violence: The Rectification of Goya by the Chapman Brothers

If the truly Weird causes a sense of great dread, then the grotesque provides another approach to the inexplicable through aggressive horror and humor. Geoffrey Galt Harpham argues that the truly grotesque stands “at the margin of consciousness between the known and unknown…calling into question the adequacy of our ways of organizing the world” (3). Caught […]

The Strange Creatures of Artist O.L. Samuels

O.L. Samuels is an artist who makes his strange and beautiful creatures “with the help of the spirit.”  Each piece is carved very  precisely based on how the spirit moves him and then he spends hours painstakingly decorating them.  He has used tree trunks, branches and roots, layers of paint, glitter, sawdust and beads.  Surprisingly he is […]

The Strangest of Neverlands: Ray Caesar’s Luminous, Defiant Lost Girls

I was first introduced to Ray Caesar’s work when writing the catalogue essay for Carrie Ann Baade’s Cute and Creepy show, which was exhibited at Florida State University’s Fine Art Museum this past October. I haven’t been able to shake the images of his haunting, and haunted, beauties ever since. Trapped forever between woman and girl, […]

Our Goblin Selves: Unmasking the Monstrous in the Works of Laurie Lipton and Francisco Goya: “My mommy always said there were no monsters - no real ones - but there are.”

Please join us in welcoming Nancy Hightower as a regular art columnist for WFR.com! Read more from Hightower on her blog. — The Editors When people use the term “grotesque,” they often mean many different things: bizarre, monstrous, unsightly, weird, nightmarish, or gross. But if there was one specific characteristic that I would wish for you to take away […]

Uncanny Ink: The Weird Illustrations of Beardsley, Niffenegger, and Gorey

Over a blank white paper come a smirking, creeping, posturing devil horde of things, grotesque, weird, macabre, sinister, misgiving and alarming, before which the creatures in Comus and The End of Elphintown retreat abashed. And then with a seeming flick of his faery hand, we see only a harmless fop of George I, a charming little lady at her toilet, […]

Revelatory Monsters: Deconstructive Hybrids, the Grotesque, and Pop Surrealism

The following general introduction by Nancy Hightower was first published in the catalog for the Cute & Creepy Show curated by Carrie Ann Baade (Florida State University). The catalog also contains Hightower’s extended exploration of specific pieces in the exhibit. Please see our other Cute & Creepy coverage this week, including a gallery, read the Curator’s Note, and visit Nancy […]

When Cute & Creepy Meet in a Small Southern Town

Last month something wonderful happened in Tallahassee, Florida — an event that brought together people from all walks of life and all artistic persuasions.  Florida State University presented the Cute & Creepy Art Exhibit, guest curated by Carrie Ann Baade. The Opening Night was Friday, October 14, 2011.  Attendees were entertained by circus acrobats while the music of […]