Skewster

DesignersCouch are running a fantastic gallery of white-on-black gouache artwork by the artist Kazuki Takamatsu – jaw-droppingly inventive and intricate pieces. I’ve chosen this one because despite the the tonal range, the image remains cheeky and playful and sexy at the same time.

Happiness flow-chart…

Because eight arms are better than two –

It just reminds me of that line in Dirty Dancing – “Spaghetti arms…this is my dance space, this is your dance space.” Except it ends with Swayze and Grey rolling around on the floor…

What do you do when your girlfriend sprouts a set of wings and the tail of a serpent?

The picture above comes from the Fantastic in Art and Fiction website at Cornell University, which has an interesting and grotesque collection of dark images. The site is grouped into themes like Angels & Demons, Danse Macabre, Weird Science and many others.

I’ve been fascinated by the occult for years, and this collection reminds me of the appeal of the unknown. Notably, virtually all of the artwork is from centuries ago, before modern society replaced the threat of God and otherworldly influences with politics and terrorism.

Looking at some of these images, I remember the strange mix of curiosity and fear that I felt as a child, and the faces that would appear in trees and wallpaper and the knots in a door if you stared long enough…

I’m in the mood for a good ghost story now…