Israel Galindo's art is composed of black and white sketches depicting monsters shambling through isolated structures. And all of these eldritch places and unspeakable things are Lovecraft inspired. Galindo's vision contains a special touch. From a clear literary basis, the exotic shapes of Lovecraft's tentacled entities are pulled into unique new hells from the artist's imagination.
Boschian demons and zombie-like creatures populate other vistas Galindo puts to paper. These macabre gatherings of monsters are effectively conveyed through the strict adherence to black and white coloring. Indeed, one might imagine these particular creatures could be diluted by "realistic" coloring, so it's for the best that Galindo maintains a shadowy edge in his work through the yin and yang of light and dark. In more symbolic pieces, he breathes sustenance into his beings with a wide array of details injected into spinning collages, again with very obvious Lovecraftian inspiration.
Galindo's full gallery is available through his blog Thoth Ascending. Browse around in the archives for a slew of strange aesthetic delights. It also pays to check back often, as Galindo works seemingly quickly, fattening his blog with several new horrors on an almost weekly basis.
-Grim Blogger
The Lovecraftian Horror Sketches of Israel Galindo
Joe Broers of Miskatonic Valley Fine Arts makes a Cthulhu the way idols were really meant to be made--at least according to a drawing by H.P. Lovecraft. Broers is perhaps the only artist to attempt a statue of this sort, which brings Lovecraft's actual vision to life as much as possible. This resin monstrosity adds the insectoid flair that Lovecraft seemingly intended: six eyes rather than the standard two that usually turns up in today's Mythos depictions.
To date, Miskatonic Valley also has a sinister looking statue of Shub-Niggurath available. "Fictitious documentation" accompanies the two horrors. These are curious letters and news clippings that "vouch" for their faux authenticity. The documents add a dimension of blurred reality between art and life to the enterprise. As far as quality statues go, they're fairly cheap too, at under $150 for either chiseled lump of cosmic insanity.
It's easy to imagine Broers' gleaming sentinels guarding one's library of weird fiction, or at least making one hell of a paperweight. Keep an eye on him. This is an artist who may go far, with his outre visions chained to a business model that emphasizes presentation as well as product.
-Grim Blogger
Miskatonic Valley's Truly Authentic Cthulhu (and Other Horrors)
The announcement of an explicitly Lovecraftian anime, which features Nyarlathotep as a silver haired schoolgirl, is perhaps one of the oddest destinations yet for HPL's international influence. The Moe Lovecraft anime is reportedly slated for production in the near future. The website AnimeNation has the full details:
Publisher Softbank Creative has announced that Flash animation production studio DLE (Eagle Talon) will produce a Flash Haiyoru! Nyaru-Ani anime adaptation of author Manta Aisora’s “high-tension, chaotic comedy” light novel series Haiyore! Nyaruko-san. The novels star high school boy Mahiro Yasaka who encounters the Cthulhu mythos god Nyarlathotep, who inexplicably chooses to appear as a cute silver-haired girl. Aisora’s H.P. Lovecraft & moé inspired light novel series premiered this past April. The third book hits Japanese shelves this month, along with a new drama CD.
The “Cthulhu mythos” created by American writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) has been quite influential in anime. References to the mythology Lovecraft created have appeared in anime including Iczer-One, Armitage the III, Digimon, Dirty Pair, Demonbane, and Soul Eater.
It's difficult to say how this project will turn out. In my own limited observations of Lovecraft's place in Japanese animation, his creations have enjoyed both serious and humorous treatment. However, a series that stars Nyarlathotep as a young girl strongly suggests it will tend toward the "Cutethulhu" model that's nearly as prominent in Japan as it is in the West. English viewers may have to wait some time to see what direction the artists and writers take, since no mention has been made of either subtitles or bringing this project to an English audience yet.
The re-publication of Thomas Ligotti's Teatro Grottesco and My Work Is Not Yet Done in cheap paperback has surely exposed his work to a wider audience. In what may be the first faint glimmers of evidence, a small, but noticeable increase in Ligottian fan art has touched the web in recent months. It's entirely possible that images like the following may have been created by long time Ligotti readers. However, it's less likely, as almost all of them are inspired by the tales that comprise the reissued paperbacks.
Not surprisingly, many of these images come from deviantart.com, the web's enduring hub for all manner of amateur fan art. "The Visitation" is a short comic by robinboywonder. Clearly inspired by Ligotti's tale "The Clown Puppet," it gives a fairly lighthearted and original interpretation of the eponymous entity responsible for the narrator's "visitations." The swirling seen through the window seemingly represents a Ligottian void of chaos, but is also reminiscent of the mystery outside Erich Zann's apartment in H.P. Lovecraft's "The Music of Erich Zann."
Tobythulhu has put his digital skills to good use in this illustration of Frank Dominio, the tormented hero of Ligotti's novella My Work Is Not Yet Done. This stylish impression is definitely a look at Dominio after he has taken on the supernatural and spectral powers of retribution granted to him by forces he only comes to understand later. Tobythulhu must be applauded for his faithful depiction of Ligotti's character--right down to the amber tinted glasses and dark suit. The artist's digital manipulation is also vaguely similar to the illustrations Harry O. Morris did for Ligotti early in his literary career.
Crescent23's gallery includes a few photographs of desolate architecture underscored by quotes from "This Degenerate Little Town." As imaged photos of Ligotti's metaphysical dreamscape, they are quite effective. Several other pictures of mouldering ruins from the degenerate little town, along with other bleak sights apparently captured in Eastern Europe, are posted at the gallery.
Okay, these last two aren't really fan art in the same sense as the previous works. They are illustrations of Thomas Ligotti's story "Nethescurial," graciously provided by the artist Markku Metso on his Drawer blog. The story appears to have been translated and reprinted in a February, 2009, issue of the Finnish speculative fiction journal "Tahtivaeltaja." It nearly goes without saying that these beautiful drawings wonderfully capture the themes of this Ligotti story.
The blog "Cthulhu Doodle" has posted a nice lineup of maps created off descriptions of H.P. Lovecraft's fictional worlds. There are several depictions of the town of Arkham exhibited, the odd near-neighbor Kingsport, as well as Lovecraft's "Kadath" inspired Dreamworld. The blogger states the maps were taken from a combination of Role Playing Game books and the inside covers of various Lovecraft story collections. Visit "Cthulhu Doodle" for a full gallery of more like the single sample above.
Durtro Records, previously a publisher and distributor of experimental music, old weird literature, and (famously) many written and recorded works by Thomas Ligotti, is about to release its latest curiosity on the world. The Haunted Head is a limited edition hardcover novel by writer, artist, and punk musician Nick Blinko. His prior involvement with outre pursuits and artists makes his own literary contribution of real interest to the weird aficionado.
This fellow has lived a mentally unbalanced life, but like many who have reaped the aesthetic benefits of abnormal psychological afflictions, Blinko has created some of the most interesting art and music to hit the pale walls of the underground in recent years. Fans of H.P. Lovecraft and hard rock may already Blinko's name from another source. He was a leading member of the British band Rudimentary Peni, which dedicated an entire album (Cacophony) to the life and literary horrors of Lovecraft. A more thorough summary of Mr. Blinko's artistic pursuits and their interaction with his Schizoaffective disorders can be read on Wikipedia.
Needless to say, The Haunted Head is shaping up to be one of the more impressive weird delights for autumn. Durtro's high quality standards embodied in approximately 350 copies of this novel (which ship with handwritten pages by Blinko and a one track CD) assures it a place in the vault of odd collectibles. Durtro is currently taking pre-orders for it here, with shipping expected in September.
The internet is abuzz with some stirring new art projects featuring Robert W. Chambers' ever bizarre King in Yellow. As with Lovecraftian creations, they range from humorous to deadly serious. Lost Carcosa's chief sovereign of toxic nonsense is alive and well across the web, and perhaps gaining popularity through images like these, which could raise the profile of Chambers in weird fiction and beyond. This is accompanied by a rise in spin off fiction about Carcosa, such as Rehearsals for Oblivion by Elder Signs Press.
This painting culled from Deviant Art was fashioned by the artist as part of a Call of Cthulhu card game. It takes a pretty traditional view of the King, but with an added flair that seems almost Oriental. The rich colors suggest the majesty in the madness that is part of the King in Yellow's draw for readers.
This one was done as fan art for the H.P. Lovecraft driven "Vault of Unspeakable Doom" web comic. The stylistic similarity to its source of inspiration is obvious. Given the enduring horror of Burger King's plastic headed mascot, it's fairly predictable that some fan of the weird would knit together the two Kings in a freakish union. Still, there's a lot of laughs gained from this lighthearted take on Carcosa's reign of terror.
The golden sculpture featured here is perhaps the most impressive piece of Yellow fan art I've ever seen. Chambers now joins the ranks of Lovecraft in the hall of weird writers whose fiction has inspired diverse artistic mediums. The creator should consider producing more of these, since the burgeoning popularity of Chambers' monarch implies a market for weird consumers who would relish putting a plaque like this near their library of strange stories.
This Youtube video is a comprehensive roundup of Edgar Allan Poe inspired artwork that was exhibited at Halloween Town's Parlour Gallery this past spring. All manner of ghoulish delights were shown off for epicures of the terrible, and thanks to Youtube, they can enjoy an even wider audience. You'll find the images and sculptures to be a well proportioned mix of artistic monstrosities drawn from Poe's fiction as well as biographical details and pictures of the author himself. The adept works of these fifteen artists do justice to Poe, in this year of his bicentennial, and prove without doubt that he is still an influential wind in the niche of horror art.
Ukraine's Bob Basset's art group has created a domineering mask of Cthulhu out of leather. No mere ski mask or cloth trinket, this stylish face pairs the inquisitor with the eldritch. Though it doesn't yet appear on their products for sale page, the creation will probably set you back at least a few hundred dollars--the retail cost of most of their wares. It's nice to see Lovecraftian fashion made by such skilled hands! Check out their website for more about the weird mask and a large collection of other curiosities.
This thread from Thomas Ligotti Online showcases a remarkable piece of Lovecraftian ephemera that once made the rounds on E-bay. Here, we have a hand carved chess set with Lovecraftian horrors replacing the usual geometric, vaguely Medieval game pieces. Cthulhu, Dagon, and a number of other blasphemous terrors can be arrayed to do battle on a chessboard that may as well symbolize the Cosmos. Deep Ones fulfill the role of pawns in this set, while a few less identifiable entities make up the middle ranks.
According to the poster, this handsome set was sold to an eldritch connoisseur for several hundred dollars. There may also be no more than two in existence--a fact that makes this chess set exceedingly rare and very prone to totally vanishing should misfortune befall both sets. Perhaps, however, some other artists will take it upon themselves to create other sets resembling this one. Given all the other Lovecraft themed concoctions exhibited online, there's certainly a demand somewhere out there for more Lovecraftian chess pieces.
Harry O. Morris is a prolific, accomplished artist and illustrator in the realm of weird horror. His name is perhaps not as well known among younger weird admirers as it used to be, something I hope to help correct in this post. Even if the name is unfamiliar, the weird literature reader's chances of seeing a Morris work at some point are quite good. Morris' support and hideous illustrations have tainted the covers and innards of many upstart weirdmongers since the 1970s. Today, his work continues to appear in massive art tomes like the Lovecraft Retrospective. He has also recently done cover art for Thomas Ligotti's reprint of Teatro Grottesco from Mythos Books, as well as books by the lesser known Michael Cisco.
Whether it is his own original creation or art that seeks to illustrate a story, Morris' pieces have always had a unique edge rarely found elsewhere. Clearly inspired by surrealists, his technique originally produced a number of feverish collages. These disturbing scraps of imagery worked effectively in illustrating works by the likes of Thomas Ligotti and Clive Barker (his black and white collage for one of Barker's Books of Blood is pictured above). Truly, Morris' art is well styled to reflect the psychological madness induced by certain types of weird horror. The observer is almost overwhelmed on several levels by screaming faces, disorienting body parts, and malevolent geometrical patterns from a schizophrenic nightmare. Imagine glimpsing Morris' work in the middle of reading a weird tale by some of the authors mentioned, and you begin to understand how crucial his illustrations can be to upping the disquiet one gets from reading the weird story alone.
Harry O. Morris' role as an editor must also be mentioned, since his magazine "Nyctalops" functioned throughout the 1980s as a small press lightning rod for talent. "Nyctalops" was responsible for publishing several of Thomas Ligotti's first complete short stories. Additionally, the magazine published important new articles and fiction by heady names in the field of Lovecraftiana like S.T. Joshi, W.H. Pugmire, Darrell Schweitzer, and many more. Morris recognized the burgeoning weirdism of Ligotti, in particular, and published a limited edition release of Songs of a Dead Dreamer in 1985: the first collection of Ligotti tales that arguably launched the bleak delver's success. Each tale in the collection was handsomely illustrated by Morris with kaleidoscope frights like his visual adaptation of "Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story" featured above.
The shadow of Morris as artist, illustrator, and editor has loomed over the careers of many notable minds in weird fiction, and continues to haunt the field with strange imagery. He does not appear to have an official online presence--hopefully, something that will be corrected in the years to come. Fortunately, there are a couple internet repositories of his work worth examining. Thomas Ligotti Online harbors a well organized gallery of Morris' illustrations from Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Those who really enjoy his work can purchase limited edition prints at the Shocklines page here.
Youtube surfing for weird artists yielded this excellent video tribute to Chris Mars. Mars, a personal favorite of mine who I've mentioned here previously, may be on the cusp of achieving the wider recognition he deserves among admirers of art--weird or otherwise. An increasing internet presence, coupled with the release last summer of a new art book called Tolerance, has made Mars some visible strives forward in recognition. Better yet, the artist himself seems to be enjoying a renewed round of exhibitions and personal appearances at book signing featuring his work. If you have yet to be introduced to the cunning mutations and gloomy nightmarishness of Mars' world, then this video will serve as a fine overview.
Canadian artist Richard A. Kirk is a weaver of oneiric art. His patchwork black and white images often convey a sense of unreality so thorough that they put one in mind of viewing some journal of dreamscapes from the past. His work as an illustrator has brought him into giving imagery to the words of several prominent horror writers like China Mieville and Poppy Z. Brite. This is very appropriate, since Kirk's art easily seeps across the border from the surreal to the weird. His website lays out further description about his life and artistic techniques:
Richard A. Kirk is a prolific Canadian visual artist and illustrator. His fine art work is centered on images that explore the liminal space between imagination and reality; a pictorial space where a personal iconography manifests in protean forms that challenge conventional notions of the beautiful and the grotesque. Richard is interested in the forms found in nature, the morphology of plants and animals, and the effect of time on materials. Richard works in a number of mediums including: pen and ink, silverpoint, watercolor, and oil. He also works with found materials such as metal, rust, rubber, fossils, bones and text. Richard is represented in Europe by Strychnin Gallery.
Kirk's horrors, though they are not ghosts, hold a very spectral quality. The leafy strangeness of the library entity or the giant spider crawling out of an archive drawer above possess a light and tenuous existence, even in the world of art. The description from Kirk's site quoted also reveals some important glimmers of understanding into the nature of the artist's themes and style. It doesn't take long to notice that the haunted objects of oddness in Kirk's pieces are either indifferent or unconcerned with the strange happenings. They are not shocked, frightened, or disgusted. In some respects, this response (or lack thereof) stresses the unusual terror in Kirk's works. The lack of surprise at being confronted with strange happenings indicates things are not as they seem in the whole environment sketched by Kirk--his worlds are the transitory dreamworlds, or darker places where easy definitions of reality are not made.
This zone of unreality is a murky region, but one that lies firmly within the weird--placing Richard A. Kirk there as well, whether he is aware of it or not. The queer denizens of Kirk's artistic dreamland identify him as one of the most imaginative talents worthy of wider recognition in the community of weird admirers. His work has appeared in several art books, including Art That Creeps: Gothic Fantasies and the Macabre in Contemporary Art (which houses a full section on his ghostly wonders). Kirk's website, which includes a far more comprehensive gallery of airy frights than the one featured here, is also well worth a visit.
I am not an Edgar Allan Poe scholar. So, rather than write a lengthy memorium or attempt an article about a weird writer I love to read, but do not have a stellar understanding of, I thought a sampling of Poe depictions would be more appropriate. In the two hundred years since his birth today, Mr. Poe has enjoyed a fanatically loyal following from those who read and appreciate him. Not unlike H.P. Lovecraft today, Poe has been the subject of both serious study and lighthearted adulation. Though not quite as explosive and ubiquitous as HPL and his creations online, Poe has sparked considerable memes and fan art as well. The images here are just a few that I think express a celebratory and joyous mood to honor the birth of a dark, strange writer.
It appears Poe's hero like status in literature has translated to other areas of pop culture. Plastic idols are no longer the venue of great soldiers, actors, and comic book heroes. You can get your own elegant Poe figurine--complete with black cat--from Amazon here. A little cognac for fuel and he's good to go.
This amateur work suggests that Poe is not dead, but dreaming. It famously combines the writer's morbid look on life and subject matter with cozier themes. It's especially interesting in light of Poe's great fear--expressed in several of his works--that he might end up prematurely interned in the rare, but awful fashion of the nineteenth century. At least an uncovered grave here yields no chance of the smothering doom that formed an "inconvenient truth" enshadowing the minds of many men and women in the author's era.
Talk about a dynamic duo! This stylish depiction of Poe walking with Lovecraft amid the backdrop of some of their most famous literary creations rings of the heroic. In fact, I believe it was originally a promo image for a webcomic featuring both weird writers as investigators. Anyone with some knowledge of Lovecraft's life knows the force Poe's legacy exerted. Some claim, not unreasonably, that Poe was placed on a pedestal by Lovecraft as the the shining example of what a weird writer could achieve--and what HPL himself hoped to. Today, it's nearly fair to say that the two stand equal, if not yet in scholarly attention, than at least in readership.
"Two-Fisted Poe" reinforces the jocular hero theme in some of the pictures above. Actually, Poe's notoriously decadent lifestyle leaves a nice way to envision him as a pulp vigilante. Unlike the shy and gentlemanly H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe experienced his fair share of drinking and adventures in the slums of cities like Baltimore and Richmond. His unusual death--seemingly the product of a rugged life in which refined literature was the main bright spot--still commands great mystery and occasional investigation. Poe would have truly had the hardened state of mind to thrive as a warrior or "dark hero" enjoyed in many popular books and television shows today.
Given the popularity of both cat memes online and Poe's story "The Black Cat," posting this image is only natural. This tale is back in the spotlight more than other Poe stories, thanks in part to a cinematic adaptation of The Black Cat from the Masters of Horror series. There's something curious about the high proportion of weird writers who have ruminated on the glories and horrors of felines in their work. Then again, there are few other animals with such an ancient history of wonder and strangeness in human culture. Perhaps the modern cat, as a smaller representative of its powerful and deadly cousins, is a little horror. A tame horror. Poe himself concentrated in a black cat is both charming and terrifying.
SOTA, a company specializing in quality action figures and models, is set to release a new statue of H.P. Lovecraft's enigmatic Nyarlathotep in the first quarter of this year. The model will reportedly be another resin based creation that will stand about one foot high, and it will retail for about $200. This description of the monstrosity from the website "Action-Figure" gives further details:
SOTA Toys introduces the latest addition to the “SOTA Nightmares” product line, H. P. Lovecraft’s Nyarlethotep. This 12-inch tall statue features incredible detail in its horrific presentation of the messenger of the Great Old Ones, Nyarlethotep. Made of high quality resin and special “flex-resin” in key parts, this limited edition collectible will be a prized addition to any collection highlighting H. P. Lovecraft, monsters, and, as Lovecraft stated, “gigantic, tenebrous, ultimate gods.” The release date is a round about "first quarter" estimate, so I'd say to start looking for him in March. This is a statue though, so keep in mind it will set you back upwards of 200 bucks.
While SOTA's latest design is impressive, and certainly up to the high standards set by their previous Lovecraftian creations, I'm not certain the tentacled Cthulhuvian look of Nyarlathotep is quite right. Nowhere in Lovecraft's writing is the emissary of Azathoth explicitly described. He appears as a mostly formless, Crawling Chaos in faux human form in the story that bears his name, and again as a trickster in "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kaddath." While tentacles have played their role for a long time, serving as symbols of the alien in Lovecraft's work, I believe they are overplayed. It would be nice to see more Lovecraftian horrors incorporating other strange features of his monsters: fungi, leathery wings, blindness, and quasi-biological chaos.
That said, the SOTA figure is still a good quality design and monument to weird horror. It will certainly find a home on the shelves of many collectors and connoisseurs of the outre. Look for it to hit online markets and specialty shops no later than spring.
The French artist François Houtin captures something of the wonderful side of the weird, but also something of the terrible. His brilliantly tangled, overgrown jungles reflect some element of the bizarre beauties writers like H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith occasionally pined after and represented in their less dark tales. Though clearly inspired by ancient legends like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Houtin's exotic paper conservatories are more like enormous plant kingdoms from another planet. The skill and immensely odd vision that seeps into each one of his etchings shows nothing short of brilliance.
Although one would be hard pressed to find a Houtin garden that isn't beautiful, the reader of weird fiction will likely feel a vague anxiety rustling amid the leaves of Houtin's works. Houtin's jungles are peopled by unearthly plants, but people themselves and animals make scant, if any appearances at all. Moreover, quite a few of Houtin's dreamscapes show the relentless encroachment of magnificent fruiting bodies over abandoned palaces and pyramids, while other images make it impossible to discern whether the plants themselves might have formed terrifying facsimiles of abandoned buildings. When the observer considers who, or what, walks among the lush fields of Houtin's worlds in the past or future, there is horror. There is a dreamy hell behind the beauty of Houtin, as with most true beauties.
Regardless of whether awe or revulsion at Houtin's seething gardens come in greater proportion, he has cultivated an atmosphere closely associated with the weird's roots: cosmic wonder. In fact, Houtin has created the very environments of the weird often conjured only in the mind from reading eldritch literature. Although chances are good he will remain fairly obscure in the United States, this needn't be the case in weird circles. Several decent galleries of the artists work are available for perusing at the "Galleria del Leone" and "The Francis Kyle Gallery."
In 2007, a papercraft artist known as Jerom created several different Lovecraftian items for easy assembly by cultists everywhere. The origami creations, which can be downloaded, printed, and folded accordingly from the images in this post, include two of H.P. Lovecraft's nefarious tomes as well as a Cthulhuvian face. De Vermis Mysteriis and the hideous Unaussprechlichen Kulten by Friedrich von Juntz. These three are, in my opinion, the best of the best found on the artist's blog "Le blog de Jerom."
Curiously, the Cthulhu face posted here is not covered with the characteristic tentacles. However, it seems the unspoken look of malevolence still makes it Cthulhuvian enough--or at least a demoniacally twisted Spongebob character. Visit the blog linked above for a few other Cthulhu Mythos papercraft creations and more related sketches of Lovecraftian goodness.
With Christmas later this week, many households with children (and children-at-heart) will be eagerly expecting visits from Santa. Homes with H.P. Lovecraft readers in them, however, might be secretly hoping for a Saint Nicholas of an entirely different kind. Cthulhu and Christmas have had a long and interesting entanglement within the tentacles of "Cutethulhu" humor and parodies. This probably began not long after the posthumous expansion of Lovecraft's Mythos. Today, catalyzed by the popularization of Cthulhu online, the trend continues. The Cthulhu Clauses below are just a few examples.
This soft Cthulhu Claus recently appeared on an e-bay auction. In a rare moment of compassion, it appears Cthulhu took the form of Santa to consort with children. Somehow, I would be much more concerned with the soul bargaining likely to occur in order to receive a gift from Cthulhu. Or the imminent consumption of my flesh and bones once He grows weary of human bleating.
What are the natural sidekicks for Cthulhu Claus? Why, Shoggoths, of course! These reindeer substitutes fit in nicely with the theme of this holiday greeting. The takeoff on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is an extra dose of cleverness.
The seemingly possessed Santa in this image is certainly the strangest and creepiest. "Cthulhu Yule" features a wise play on the well known whiskers of the real Santa Claus and the tentacles of Lovecraft's cosmic horrors. The only thing more baffling and frightening about this picture is the question of what's in the box.
Although M.R. James continues to occupy a prominent place in world literature with his masterful ghost stories, he doesn't command the weird rockstar like popularity of H.P. Lovecraft in artistic depictions mostly appearing online. Fortunately, James, like Arthur Machen and other greats of the classic weird, has commanded attention from artistic devotees who have seen fit to illustrate the author. Ranging from simple caricatures to eerie portraits that would be right at home in the pages of an antiquarian ghost story collection, the images below are a sampling of the illustrated M.R. James.
This amateur portrait from the gallery of comicprints on Deviant Art is a bare bones and realistic depiction of James lifted from a famous photograph. The black and white simplicity of this picture would almost make it suitable as a stencil for urban art. Imagine the bizarre shock of seeing a graffiti version of M.R. James in a back alley or bus station!
Another realistic sketch of M.R. James graces the cover of this biography. Probably inspired by another photograph of the writer, this depiction nevertheless gives a very authentic portrayal of the scholarly James. With spectacles, tie, and a very proper looking English style, James looked exactly like you imagine many of the hapless antiquarians in his tales to appear. At least as much, if not more so, than the grim New England academics who populate H.P. Lovecraft's stories, and are often idealized and semi-autobiographical versions of Lovecraft himself.
The venerable Andrea Bonazzi, who has created appropriately edited the photos of many weird writers, also did this creepy modification of M.R. James reading in his study. Though fantastic, James looks quite at home in this library with the collection of antiquarian oddities on the table behind him. Note the specter at the window in the background for a truly Jamesian effect.
Lastly, how could I leave out one of the best live action depictions of M.R. James? British actor and storyteller Robert Lloyd Parry is a spitting image of the ghost story maker. Here, Parry as James comes nearly face-to-face with the horrible secret of "The Ash-Tree." Parry also delivers a fine performance as a storyteller of James' work. He is currently on tour across Britain and the United States, and a DVD of his dramatic Jamesian narratives will be forthcoming.
Cats are majestic creatures, but none can fully forget that they are well behaved predators brought into our homes, miniaturized versions of wild murderers who still run wild. The unusual dichotomy cats hold in our lives and in weird literature has been noted for quite some time. Stories like H.P. Lovecraft's "The Cats of Ulthar" and Algernon Blackwood's "Ancient Sorceries" were major attempts at charting the murky and weird territory felines hold in the human psyche. There hasn't been a legendary horror story based on cats for some time, but that study of their weird facets has hardly ceased.
I daresay the exploration of feline creepiness has moved into more visual types of art, many of which are housed online. The modern investigation utilizes simple techniques and talented artistic energy. The picture above is little more than a simple "mirror" effect likely done in Photoshop, but its unsettling implications are obvious. It illustrates how subtle changes in the form of a cat can render biting results. A double dose of weirdism is delivered via the cat's altered characteristics that eerily approach anthropomorphism.
It doesn't get much more demonic than this. Like the first picture, this one uses a simple software tool to generate nightmarish results. The most malicious nature of the cat is sewed up in this image. The Ulthar demigod that is all tooth and claw lives in this pic, and perhaps it was a face like this that lorded over the elderly couple in Lovecraft's story as they received punishment for killing a fellow feline.
When it comes to outlandish depictions of cats, a discussion is incomplete without mentioning Louis Wain. The Victorian painter is found today in psychology textbooks everywhere for an infamous case of schizophrenia that manifested increasingly strongly in his cat art as he aged. It seems Wain, like Lovecraft, truly adored cats. That doesn't absolve his art, including the many pieces he created during his "sane" and liminal periods, of having a fear inducing quality. Wain's hellcats hold a certain mystery that even the boldest worshipers at the feline alter may not dare to know.
This surreal painting also highlights the wilder side of cats. The ominous display of fangs and dead eyes places this cat depiction nicely in the taxonomy of the unusual. This cat, with its distorted predatory expression, is something one would encounter in a dream--though probably not for long. It's a blessing that the quickness of cats often means a graceful end to any haunting nightmare that puts you on the wrong end of unspeakable feline things.
