The Art of Ray Caesar

[ChronoGrl]

My boyfriend discovered this artist and sent me a link to a few of his collections. He's actually deciding if he wants to get me one of these prints for Christmas... :D I'm a lucky girl.

Highlights of the gallery:






I really like how he takes these archetypal classic Victorian images and really makes them dark and gothic... The choice of colors are gorgeous and I think that he really has an eye for the macabre.

He's my new favorite artist. :)

[ChronoGrl]

Again, a vision of Victorian girls... Twisted with the claws of their hands...

So incredible.

[Sharkchild]

This one is my favorite.

[ChronoGrl]

I'm bumping this specifically because I want Festered to check this guy out.

Festered - I honestly think that you'd like Ray Caesar's work. He is one of my absolute favorite artists of all time. His sardonic, dark, and macabre look at traditional portrait painting is pure brilliance. I particularly like his play on decadence and Victorian portrait aesthetic, obsession with vanity and also pointing out blatant pedophilia.

Some other favorites of mine:

What do you think? I thought that you'd like his macabre surrealism.












And my absolute favorite:

[ChronoGrl]

I can't help myself... These two were part of the bunch that originally sucked me in:

"Coming Undone" is a fantastic play on Victorian decadence and the corset:

[neverending]

Very cool stuff Chrono- sorry I'm not Festered.

This inspires me to make a thread about Grandville.

[Festered]

I went to his site http://www.raycaesar.com/ and really enjoyed these pieces:

http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com...2034&artidx=46

http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com...2034&artidx=46

Liked the theme of the scavenger and the dead in them.

This one reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock's daughter Patricia-

http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com...A8D1&artidx=63

and in keeping with that theme, this looks like Tippi Hedren in Marnie-

http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com...2F6B&artidx=90

A few other pieces I enjoyed-

http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com...BB1B&artidx=78

http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com...F86A&artidx=97

His work reminds me of a sort of hybrid cross between Charles Bragg

http://www.charlesbragg.com/html/giclee2.htm

and the polished eroticism of Olivia De Berardinis

http://www.suicide.couk.com/gallery/oli/oligal.htm

Very nice works, and I like the fetishistic morbidity. The most amazing thing is that his work is digital. I mistook it for paint. He really has mastered his textures.

[ChronoGrl]

Originally Posted by neverending

Very cool stuff Chrono- sorry I'm not Festered.

This inspires me to make a thread about Grandville.

Glad you enjoyed it! (Even if you're not Festered :p)

...

Festered - Glad you enjoyed it, too. "Pecker" and his other themes on gothic (or reversal of) birth are some of his newer pieces. I'm not sure that I enjoy them as much as his older work, but they are still brilliant and evocative.

"Hally Lou" (the singing Girl) that you pointed out is one of my boyfriend's absolute favorites.

In terms of his work combining tumors and robotic elements to his pieces, I am not as big a fan of these. I think I prefer his more subtle pieces (though the one that you pointed out with the tumor DOES speak to the metaphor of Vanity as Tumor which is pretty interesting).

Charles Bragg is really interesting... I'll have to check out more of his stuff.

And I agree with you on Caesar... I couldn't believe that his work was digital, either. I find it absolutely fascinating. He creates a limited amount (usually 30 or so) and then destroys the 3D images so they can't be replicated.

Shame, in a way, because I'd love to get my hands on "Ebb Tide" but it's sold out and I can only IMAGINE what the private owners would be asking for it.

[Festered]

Originally Posted by ChronoGrl

He creates a limited amount (usually 30 or so) and then destroys the 3D images so they can't be replicated.

Then puts it on the internet....where they can.

[ChronoGrl]

Ray Caesar's newest... Loooooooooooooooove it...