Félicien Rops

I have a Taschen-book called "Symbolism", and in it, there were two pieces by Rops, one of them being Pornocrates. Yesterday, completely by accident (I didnt remember the name, but saw a pastel-like drawing on the cover, and because im working with pastels on my current project i wanted to check it out), I picked up a book about him in a bookshop.

This guy's art is awesome! He flourished in 19th century paris, in an environment filled with drugs, sex, prostitutes and syphilis. He was married, but divorced after having numerous affairs, and ended up having a relationship with two french sisters. At the same time. The sisters, in writing, even combined both their names into one, which shows their lack of rivalry amongst them.

"I have taken a bath in flames"

In his work, he tries to capture the spirit and appearance of the age in which he lived. Which somehow resulted in works filled with nude women, anti-religion, sex and symbols/signs of death.


related: Vania
Equally morbid and sex-related is the art of Russian artist Vania Zouravliov. Be sure to buy his book, simply named Vania. (available on amazon)

technology is killing art!

Artificial light is killing my colours!
on the first, not the second.

frankenbubbaaablaablubla

tried something different for the drowning-one. Didnt quite turn out as i liked. These pastelpencils arent really that good to work with. At least not in this size/for these illustrations.

In between

a painting i did for a friend a couple of weeks ago, and something i did today.

Was quite a strange process for me, starting out by sketching fast, throwing ink around, adding greytones, adding a few coloured details, got angry because i thought it was ugly, tore it to pieces, calmed down, checked it again, thought it looked better now and glued it all on the surface of a little table i have standing in my room.

frankenstein, the joker and comics

2 more. not really happy with how the 'lab' one turned out. too much of a mix of things. it doesnt make sense, and doesnt do the two different elements justice. They distract eachother too much without adding to eachother.
Not the way different styles and elements add to eachother like it does in arkham asylum, by dave mckean. And he has to use fucking white textblocks. Hmm.. I need to think my stuff through more...

Speaking of Batman and comics and whatnot, be sure to read 'The Joker' by Azzarello and Bermejo. The story is amazing, and so are the drawings. It shows a really twisted joker, a twisted mind. Not twisted, mean-twisted. Yeah, ofcourse, mean-twisted, but more like he really has mental issues. Episodes. Snapping from sane, to insane, to sane, to suicidal, to smart, to crying, to homicidal.

Also, pick up the afore mentioned Arkham Asylum by grant morrison and dave mckean. The story lacks some sense sometimes, at least, i feel like it does, but the drawings make a helluvalot up for it.

frankenstein