Dean Kuhta's Fantastic Sketches

Via Italy's quality "In Tenebris Scriptus" weird blog comes some fine galleries of dark fantasist Dean Kuhta. Like Mark Powell, he appears to be another young newcomer to the scene of horror art. His style typically utilizes penciled streaks and charcoal, producing an unsettling ambiguity that's crowned by just enough detail to suggest monstrosities both familiar and unique. A cursory view of his main gallery here shows his themes have run the gambit from more traditional fantasy productions to explicitly Lovecraftian themes lifted from HPL's stories.


Kuhta's remarkable skill at drawing environmental features like the titanic peaks of Leng, coupled with unusual, malignant pillars does a great deal to capture the awesome mystery of Lovecraft's creation. However, Kuhta is not just another illustrator of Lovecraftian pieces. As his "Dead Empire" above reveals, he has an impressive imagination in his own right. This one melds the Lovecraftian theme of the derelict civilization with a unique bio-mechanical look straight out of science fiction. Meanwhile, works like "Ruminate" or "Goddess of Dark Water" show off his skills at creating surrealist designs.

Somehow, there is almost always an element of the malevolent behind Kuhta's fantasies and dour wonders. This consistent carryover of fear, subtle or blatant, makes pigeonholing him as a horror artist a bit clearer. And though it only matters for purposes of genre and (perhaps) future marketing, one should hope he welcomes the claim. This is an artist certain to sharpen his abilities further, hopefully continuing to carry them over to the realm of the eerie and bizarre.

-Grim Blogger