Art: Soren Häxan

Top to bottom: 'Monstrum', 'Dead Hands', and 'The Spiritualist'.

Until I either hang/frame/do something with the pieces I already have or move into my new flat, I've had to enforce an art ban on myself; no buying any new prints, which I have responded to by... looking at lots of art. I guess the heart wants what the heart wants. 

The most recent of my guilty late night binges is the work of Soren Häxan, Washington-based artist and writer. Häxan's oil paintings and ink illustrations blend illness, the abhuman and the occult, and homoeroticism to create unique works on faith and sexuality.

As well as prints and original artworks, you can also find hand bound books and patches in Häxan's etsy store, The Hands of the Corpse (warning: some art NSFW). Additionally, keep an eye out for his soon-to-be-published book, Our Queen Milk.

All images by Soren Häxan. Soren is also on twitter (where he's a joy to follow), as am I! Has anyone else found any new art recently? Let me know below!




Fiona C.

INTERVIEW: Tyler Thrasher Art

All images used with permission of Tyler Thrasher. 

Being balanced in the liminal space between the world of medicine and art, I spend about as much time finding new artists and inspiring myself as I do learning how to treat people - at its most discrete, it's still two sides of the same coin for me. 

It was in one of these late night art binges way back in spring that I chanced across Tyler Thrasher, a graduate of Missouri University working in the very unique field of crystalline taxidermy; as well as a dizzying range of skills ranging from traditional media to caving and electronic music, Thrasher has combined his creative process with his passion for alchemy and perfected the unpredictable process of growing almost parasitic crystals on cicadas, bones, and shells. The result is unique transformations that take nature's detritus and form it into a stunning work of art, which forms part of the recent revival of artistic interest in the occult and ritual. 

As you can tell, I enjoy enthusing to others about things that excite me, so I emailed Tyler and he graciously agreed to an interview that I've shared with you readers.

I saw you’ve just got back from Iceland – it seemed like a good trip! How has it been inspiring you?

Iceland is literally one of most magical places I've visited! Absolutely unreal, and it's been a huge inspiration. I already draw a lot of inspiration from natural themes, especially while I'm hiking or caving. Iceland is so drastically different from any other landscape I've seen and its really been giving me a fresh lens to view my work through. I've been playing with ideas regarding moss and lichen, which are an absolute abundance in Iceland. So we'll see where that goes!


The transformative nature of the geography does lend itself to your style. What impact has the different places you’ve lived in had on your work?

I don't really feel like I had anything to call "my work" until I moved to Springfield, Missouri for school. That's where I really began hiking, caving, and producing music. I really rediscovered myself while studying in Missouri, and the gorgeous Ozark terrain did play a huge role in my work. That's also where I began synthesizing my own crystals as well, something you pick up on while exploring miles of underground passage. I also didn't really realize til you asked this question either, but my style does temporarily change while I'm travelling. There seems to be a cohesive aesthetic of everything I make while on a particular trip that doesn't last when i get return home. It may be a mixture of the environment, landscape, palette, and personal/ emotional investment towards that trip.

During the summer I visited Barcelona, and was very inspired by the work of Antoni Gaudi; the overlap between mathematics and nature was something that spoke to me in your pieces too. How do the different concepts in your art relate?

I've always found wonder in chemistry and the subatomic particles that make up the material world. The reason I love chemistry is because it's one of the more concrete sciences. You can quantify nearly every aspect of it, and break it down to near exact numbers. Some of other scientific fields can be more subjective and theoretical, and while those fields have their own category of inspiration and wonder - I prefer studying the physical materials that we and everything else are comprised of.


That's really interesting, as beyond the chemistry crystallization process seems so unpredictable! As well as your famous crystallized pieces, you’re constantly expanding the other mediums you work in. What is the attraction in this for you?

I'm honestly just intrigued by so freaking much. While crystallization is a weird unconventional artistic medium, I do think it's important to study and celebrate the more traditional mediums that have stood the test of time. Also, I just really enjoy making stuff! My creative process is sort of a domino effect, I go from inspiration to inspiration, painting to painting, and series to series and eventually I stumble on a unique and exciting idea that is either feasible and possible with my given resources, or outlandish and to be reserved for a later time or someone else.

You spend a lot of time sharing your process on Instagram and Facebook, amongst other platforms, and not a few locations have been subject to a #thrashcache. As well as the obvious benefits in notoriety, is accessibility of art and engagement with the public something you value?

ABSOLUTELY. This is sort of a topic I take very passionately, so I will keep my response short of a rant ha ha!

Art in my self-validated opinion has always been about community and sharing ideas, and I think that's an element we should always keep in the practice of art. Art can be a very selfish practice as well. There are too many artists who expect society and their community to keep them afloat while they lock themselves up in the studio and give back very little. While I do think it's valuable and necessary for society to take care of it's artists, I do think it is vital that these creatives share their genius with society (not to say I'm a genius, ha ha!), but it is important that you spread your ideas and work with others. There's no telling how you could inspire them, or better yet, how they can inspire you. 

There's such an amazing community of individuals who have and are funding my work regularly and I still haven't figured out how to handle/ comprehend it. It all happened so fast that my only response right now is "Oh god! Here have some free s***!" I regularly do art drops as a tiny thank you towards the people who engage with my work, and for those who haven't found my work yet, and while I know my work isn't for everyone (as is true with literally everything but air and food) I'll usually purchase a gift card to leave behind for the establishment that's letting me leave my art there. This way if someone doesn't like the work, they at least found a free coffee! There are so many other ways to give back to society and I'm still trying to figure all of those out, as leaving behind a bunch of prints and crystallized dead stuff has it's limitations.


What’s coming up in the future?

A lot! I'm working on a game with Proteus Pixel called "Through Ashes and Fog". I will be the lead animator and artistic director for this indie game! I will also be putting out a small book comprised of my digital insect/alchemy paintings. I also have a few shows here and there and I will be putting in some serious time and energy into a new House album which will feature a slight change in my musical sound.

Tyler Thrasher can be found at his official website, tylerthrasher.com, as well as on Facebook and Instagram. If you're interested in supporting him further, he also has a Storenvy and a Patreon. 

Fiona C. 

Bones you have thrown me: Skull Collection 2015

As you can probably guess my camera has been repaired, and I've been putting it to use by photographing a few pieces from my bone collection. I've mentioned previously that taxidermy isn't really my thing, and that still holds true; the anatomist in me appreciates the stripped nature of bone, and their endurance.

Most of the bones I've collected were ones I'd found, specifically in the highlands, but this jackdaw skull is one purchased from The Fox Den I received for my birthday last year. I specifically asked for a jackdaw as I have fond memories of a tamed young jackdaw I knew from when I was a kid sitting on my head and trying to eat my hair (it's really no surprise to anyone that I turned out the way I did), and wanted a way to remind me of him. It fits perfectly in my smaller glass cloche, and it was fun making an arrangement for it.

One of the advantages of being friends with the river bailiff (aside from local gossip and occasional free fishing for my dad) is how he called us completely out of the blue one day to tell us that there was a deer skull beside the river if we wanted it. It absolutely stank out the car on the way back, but it now sits proudly in the garden waiting to be cleaned and mounted.

My most recent addition is something I've coveted for a while, and so fragile I'm afraid to touch it - a complete mole skeleton. I got it on eBay for £30 (my mum shook her head and said I needed supervision for going online when I told her), and the skull is so tiny and perfect, like a baby's fingernail. It really deserves a display to showcase it, but until I either articulate it or frame it (the latter more likely, due to its delicacy) I'll share this.

Do you collect bones or curios? Anything you'd particularly like to see? Let me know below!





Fiona C.

Dundee Art and Design Degree Show 2015

A quick clearing of the throat to share how I've been spending my time. This friday, I went straight from finding out that I'd passed my exams (huzzah!) to the DJCAD degree show, to see what the art students have been up to for the past four years, and try to avoid spilling free wine on the exhibits.

Warning: images containing nudity below the break. 

Two month Catch-Up

Oh my - has it really been a month since I last posted? And two since I posted regularly? A holiday was taken, it seems.

THE PAST

Apologies to everyone for the unexplained absence; I must admit that with university life, blogging fell by the wayside. It's good to see that the internet world moves on without me - keeps my ego in check.

Nonetheless, thank you to those of you who asked where I've been; I do have answers! I've been doing a lot of this -

I could post a video featuring lots of aerials and fast footwork, but the reality is most of the dancing we do is social. 

Which, in some ways, is much nicer. 

Some of this - 

Pastel, A4. Accepting name suggestions (The Uncaped Crusader currently in the lead).

And unfortunately this - 

It's not all bad; I got to study psychiatry this year, which reaffirmed my desire to specialize in the field.

Other events which I don't have photos for - becoming a god-auntie, Rocky Horror Party Mark II (photos were taken, but apparently they were so awful the camera actually broke before I could download them), authorship of an introductory guide to womenswear of the 1920s, the purchase of my first corset, and attendance at the Edinburgh Welcome to Nightvale live show.

THE PRESENT

What's been happening in internet land, however? 

- Viktoria Modesta, who I wrote a feature on a few months ago, has paired up with Channel 4 in their campaign 'Born Risky' to promote her new single Prototype. I wish her the best of luck!

- http://www.mielleharvey.com/

- That gum you like is coming back in style.
- One of my favourite bloggers and artists, Eliza Gauger, officially left the internet this month. Fortunately, she's still running Problem Glyphs, and you can keep up to date with her via her newsletter.

THE FUTURE

Now that I'm back, I hope to be back for good; I probably won't be posting much over the December period on account of a certain revamped Pagan celebration, but I'm hoping to write more for the new year. Due to previously mentioned camera problems, although I have plenty to shoot there won't be any personal fashion on here until that particular issue is solved, but expect plenty more. 

Happy holidays to all, and have a good new year!

Fiona C. 

Art:Tangled Up in You

In a collaboration between sculptors Beth Cavener Stitcher and Alessandro Gallo, the exquisite balance of the predator/prey cycle is explored in the work Tangled Up In You. The fluid grace of the intertwined hare and snake, with their anthropomorphic eyes, is offset with the physicality and tension between them. Cavener Stitcher's work looks in depth at not only this sensuous violence, but the balance between humanity and the innate animal instinct within all of us. Nastia Voynovskaya described the work up as 'visceral', and I think it's the only word which could possibly sum up all of the feelings and emotions this piece provokes.

I've always struggled with the moral and ideological arguments for eating meat and animal products; my father consoled me as a child that the native Americans said a prayer of thanks for the animal they killed and used all parts of it (I suspect this is a massive over-generalisation of the different spiritualties practiced by varied tribes, but I love him all the same for trying to comfort me), and it's only now that I've accepted that as a viable option and come to terms with it.

Whilst I do support the vegan/vegetarian movement at large in its efforts to bring the treatment of animals to our attention (though organised veganism can be hellish and hypocritical in practice) I no longer feel that it is the way to go. The production and importation of meat substitutes isn't always better for the environment than locally produced meat, and veganism is intrinsically at odds with the natural cycle of birth and death, which I feel the interplay of sexuality and brutality in Cavener and Gallo's sculpture represents; things must die for others to survive, and that's going to happen whether there's chicken in my salad or not.


You can see more of Cavener Stitcher's work on her website here (I personally favour "The Adoration (from Van Eyck)"), and more photos of the production of this sculpture on High Fructose. If you're in Milwaukee, you can see Tangled Up in You on show in the Milwaukee Museum of Art.






Fee



All images in this post were sourced from High Fructose. I do not own the rights to any of the above images.

Design: Alien Facehugger Corset

As you can probably tell, I have a lot of love for geeky things. Though I love my sci fi, super heroes and science, I don't tend to adorn myself or my surroundings with them - partially because they often look rather incongruous when combined with my regular style, and also because they often look so... tacky. Memorabilia is often plastic and cheap looking, and are just replications of the motifs or characters designed to shout 'look at me and my pop culture tastes!'. I tend to like less obvious indicators of interests, such as the whisky glasses from Blade Runner, or items from a universe which is very design led (also pretty applicable to Blade Runner) as opposed to the standard merchandise.

Source.

When the symbols are used by someone who really appreciates design, however, that's another thing entirely. Well made, subtle (or, indeed, not so subtle) nods to our favourite cinema and books in luxurious materials and interpreted through the lens of a style or aesthetic.

Source.

So for that reason I decided to post the Alien Facehugger corset (made by Rage Custom Creations) so we could all sigh over it once again, and long for the perfect marriage of sexualised fashion and sexualised deadly xenomorphs.





Fee

March Blog Round Up

My photography even from last year is beginning to look terrible to me.
 Hopefully this is a sign of improvement, but a new image for round ups is in order.

Just a note for the coming month; my end of year exams are during April, so I may be out of action for the next few weeks. I've queued up posts however, so don't fret about a complete absence.

I've been finding a lot of interesting new blogs recently, and it shows in this most recent blog round up -

• First, some shameless plugging; there has been several changes around my blog recently, but one which may interest you is my new facebook page! As well as my blog posts, I post lots of snark and photos which I don't feature on here - it's terribly lonely, so please do come like it.
• For those who dream of shiny black and fetish inspired fashion, Aesthetic Contradiction has posted a guide to caring for latex clothing (pro tip - her own personal style is excellent too).
• Haute Macabre, purveyor of couture fashion for the darkly inclined, recently featured the work of photographer Kim Youngjun, which displays a contrast between vulnerable models and dangerous looking cyberpunk-esque head and back pieces.
• Elisa of Style Bizarre posted about laser cut clothing, featuring both designers and high street options; additionally, you can also order your own custom laser cut clothing, which is amazing.
• What really enthused me with regards to the recent IFB links a la mode was undoubtedly the abundance of articles looking at racism and cultural appropriation; FASHTASH breaks down examples of cultural appropriation of several items from South Asian culture by major designers, and The Curatorial posted a very well thought analysis of Walter Van Beirendonck's infamous 'Stop Racism' presentation.
• My current fashion inspiration is coming from Feeling Vague's outfit posts - I already own one pencil skirt, but I've got the taste for more after this t shirt and skirt combo.
• My favourite catwalk of Paris Fashion Week has to be the space/punk inspired (yes, you read that right) Jean Paul Gaultier collection. You can view the full collection here on the Daily Mail website, or if you have issues with giving them page views here on Fashion Gone Rouge (though the mail article does feature an elderly gent with a glorious hawk, not seen on FGR).

That's all for this month, and possibly next too - my exams are right at the end of April, which means a round up for that month is unlikely. Thanks for reading!



Fee



P.S. Apologies for the post that accidentally published itself today. It's been told off and warned not to try it again, and you'll see it next month instead.

Cyberpunk Camoflage Make Up: CV Dazzle




Source.

"CV Dazzle explores how fashion can be used as camouflage from face-detection technology, the first step in automated face recognition."

- CV Dazzle



One of my favourite things about cyberpunk is how the aesthetic and the practicalities of it intersect. CV Dazzle is a thesis project by Adam Harvey looking at just that, and how hair and make up styling can be used to evade facial detection cameras. It examines the impact of future facial detection software and information use, and describes the concept on its website, saying, 'CV Dazzle uses avant-garde hairstyling and makeup designs to break apart the continuity of a face. Since facial-recognition algorithms rely on the identification and spatial relationship of key facial features, like symmetry and tonal contours, one can block detection by creating an “anti-face”.'




Source.



I first saw this project a year or two ago on tumblr, and it's fascinating how 'five minutes into the future' the whole thing feels, and how relevant it may become. The project is still ongoing, and since its creation in 2010 Harvey has done several collaborations with Wired, the New York Times and DIS Magazine to demonstrate the application of his work. For me, this is the heart of cyberpunk; how our life will change in the not so far away sci-fi future in a potential big brother world.


Source.

 The project's website features advice for stylists wanting to create their own privacy retaining looks, and more information on the process of developing these looks and the software it was tested on.

Fee

Humors and Demeanors: Problem Glyphs by Eliza Gauger

"BOG WITCH / BOG BLESSING"

Some of you are probably familiar with the work of Eliza Gauger, or 3liza on tumblr, but if not she's an Oakland illustrator and fine artist of magnificent skill, known for her love of monsters and geek/alternative friendly art.

"TOADSTONE"

Gauger's current project Problem Glyphs (WARNING: some NSFW content, and potential triggers), based on her tumblr account, involves her designing individual glyphs in response to the problems sent in by her followers, ranging from someone finding it difficult to concentrate to people struggling with mental health issues and life decisions.

"TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF YOUR LIFE AFTER DEATH"

Gauger has declined describing the process by which she comes up with her glyphs, stating, "its a) boring and b) may hijack the personal interpretations of the other people who are using the glyphs". Based in both her knowledge of mythology and her own personal feelings and associations with both problem and imagery, she compares the method of the glyphs to tarot, but also points out the human aspect of the project -

"The other half of magic, and medicine, and witchcraft, is just knowing somebody is paying attention to your problem, and gives enough of a shit to try and help you with it."

A parallel project to provide every glyph with an accompanying poem is also being undertaken by Elias I. K. B., and the glyphs are categorized according to their humors (blood, milk, brine, honey and ink) and demeanours (febrile, fulsome, lucent, warlike and peregrine). Gauger refuses to turn down any request she receives, though at the time of publishing was unable to accept anymore due to a ginormous backlog - when requests are again open, however, she can be contacted at her personal tumblr.




Fee





All images property of Eliza Gauger, sourced from the Problem Glyphs Tumblr.
UPDATE - Gauger has recently put the Problem Glyphs project up on Patreon. Go check it out, and support if you can afford it!