The Deranged Imagery of Chris Mars

Chris Mars has developed a growing appreciation among connoisseurs of macabre beauty over the past two decades. His fascinating background as a musician and observer of a schizophrenic brother has produced some of the most nightmarish visions ever conceived in modernity. Since approximately the late 1990s, this middle aged weaver of grotesques left music solely to focus on his growing body of art. In a word, Mars's art can be said to have two roots: the hideous and the political.


These two facets interlock in various portions with every artwork culled from the mind of Mars. For better understanding the putrefying nightmares showcases in his galleries, it's useful to clarify what Chris Mars himself says about the political aspect. The visionary stated his position quite explicitly in the information accompanying his mini-gallery at the Beinart International Surreal Art Collective:

From my hands, my mission: To free the oppressed; to champion the persecuted, and the submissive; to liberate through revelation the actualized Self in those proposed by some to have no self at all. It’s in every single one of us, somewhere underneath that word on our chest.

In my hands, my version: All art is political in some sense, be it through conformity, reflection, propaganda or rebellion. My paintings are rallies and trials, photographs of a moment when Truth was made public, and Mercy known.

Question why a villain is villainized, a victim martyred. Ask why a group is demonized, and the motives for control. See for yourself what the truth looks like in your hands. Dig it up and hold it for a while. This work you see, it’s my Truth. But please don’t take my word for it.

This attention to the repressive exclusions of social "freaks" gives Mars's work a unique purpose: exposing the horrors of a socio-political existence (and beyond). However, even this explanation can only account for about half the content of his inimitable output. The rest is surely taken from Mars's own mental outlines of visceral horror. Not surprisingly, many viewers have seen subtle parallels in the productions of Chris Mars, and the publications of writers like H.P. Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti. For instance, the image directly above entitled "Blood Dumpling Envy" bears a striking likeness to the batrachian abominations of Lovecraft's Innsmouth. At the same time, though, the decaying mutant legions of Mars underwater possess a distinctive origin and purpose apart from Lovecraft's anti-civilization of fishmen. The two works featured higher in this post called "The Birthday Boy" and "Early Autumn" display some comparative similarities with Ligotti. Mars's attention to the lurking death of the liminal fall season echoes horrible transitions seen in Ligotti's stories like "The Shadow at the Bottom of the World." Meanwhile, "The Birthday Boy" at the top heaves with encroaching deterioration, including the same surrounding industrial desolation that serves as a consistent environment for terror in Thomas Ligotti's tales. Not surprisingly, then, Chris Mars is loved by users of the Thomas Ligotti Online forums.

Chris Mars's own stunning galleries can be witnessed at his website, Chris Mars Publishing. Vast selections of his paintings, pastels, and other forms can be seen here. Sales inquiries can be made as well. It appears the artist will also be releasing his first print art collection around June of this year, Tolerance: The Art of Chris Mars. The hardcover art book is available for pre-order on his website and Amazon.com.

-Grim Blogger