Category Archives: Full

Obscure photography by Christian Greller

March 15, 2018 9:30 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Christian Greller, photography, dark, obscure, occult,

Christian Greller is a German photographer, I already featured on this [enchantment] post, promising myself to dedicate him a full post soon.

So here I am, ready to tell you about his photography, whose themes return often on this blog.

Unfortunatelly I could not find any English article about him, so I had to grab some information from a couple of German blogs here and here. My German level is very basic, so I had to “ask” for help to Google translator on some spots, but I think I understood everything correctly.

Let’s start by saying that Christian is self-taught, and his passion for photography started by watching shorts by director Richard Kern. After trying to shoot some short movies too, being the result not what he hoped for, he begin using photography to express himself.

With his camera (he shoots digitally and adds subsequently, warm and analog-like effects in post production) he tries to describe and obtain such moods as solitude, melancholy and mourning. It’s not a case that he often shoots in cemeteries and abandoned buildings.

He often drives long distances to find the right places to shoot on; in Bayern it’s not so easy to find similar spots, so he search for them on the net and organizes travels with friends and models to shoot there.

Among his inspirations he names Matthias Lueger, Aëla Labbé, Sabekr and Francesca Woodman whose influence can be clearly seen on the series ” The Leipzig Diaries”.

His female portraits are the most interesting to me, the influence of Church brutalities is clearly evident, and he confirms to be somewhat scared by certain cruel religious scenes as the crucifixion and the images of bleeding saints often depicted in paintings.

The women he shoots are pale, white dressed, often resembling ghosts of the past, or tortured souls searching for some peace. In an imaginary photographic current I would put Greller together with Matthias Lueger and Michaela Knizova.

Closing this short post, I really hope I was able to fuel your curiosity and I hope more international blogs and websites will feature Christian Greller soon, his art needs some more exposure.

Website

Images © Christian Greller

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: Christian Greller, dark, obscure, occult, photography

The photography of Noèlia Andrés

March 8, 2018 10:00 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Noèlia Andrés, photography, dark, obscure, ethereal, black and white photography, mixed media

Noèlia Andrés is a young photographer from Spain, after learning the basics of photography on her own, she attended a professional course in 2014. That’s all she needed to start experimenting with the camera and beginning her art journey.

She shots digitally, adding grainy effects during post-production to obtain a magic “analog” mood.
A distinctive trait, on several Noèlia’s pictures, is the subtle addition of minimal illustrative parts: fine lines (often a single one) following the curves of a body; a sort of thread playing between fingers, disappearing into moles, outlining silhouettes.

These soft-focused self-portraits are extremely intriguing; albeit being at the beginning of her artistic journey, and confessing she’s just letting the ideas flow, Noèlia has already defined the path she wants to walk.

You can see more of Noèlias art on her Tumblr page.

Hat tip to godartlab.com

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: black and white photography, dark, ethereal, mixed media, Noèlia Andrés, obscure, photography

Corpus Vertebrae: investigating body and soul scars

March 6, 2018 10:00 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Corpus Vertebrae, photography, dark, black and white photography, obscure, fine art

There is no mystery that, since the first time I noticed the works of Corpus Vertebrae (Michalina Wozniak), I fell in love with her delicate and intense way to narrate, trough the lens of her camera, the soul of her models. That’s why I asked her to collaborate with me on this postcard set and I sell some notebooks with her artwork.

I am constantly following her artistic path and I can not help but notice, how her skills are improving day by day.

I am not talking here about technical (photographic) skills, I am referring to her tactful, yet intense way to touch some delicate topics.

Mental illness, solitude, physical disability and the never-ending confrontation with death are returning themes on Corpus Vertebrae’s photography, and she has one of the most respectful, delicate ways to speak about them I’ve ever seen.

If you still have not seen her works around the net, I strongly suggest you to check her Tumblr page.

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: black and white photography, corpus vertebrae, dark, fine art, obscure, photography

Dreamy ethereal photography by Antonio Palmerini

October 13, 2016 9:30 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Antonio Palmerini, photography, dark, ethereal, obscure, black and white, long exposures, double exposures, painting

Hi dear readers, I finally found some time to write a full post for the blog. I apologise for not being constant on publishing longer articles, as soon as my life settles a bit, I’ll hopefully be able to write more content.
But let’s get back to the artists I’m going to present you: he’s Antonio Palmerini, an Italian photographer and painter.

The choice of the medium he uses for his works depends on what he needs to capture: he uses the camera to depict what he does not want to paint, and paintings to describe what cannot be photographed, like a dream or some kind of emotional impulse. Being a lover of photography, I would like to focus on the photographic work of Antonio. If you check the examples below, you’ll immediately understand why I like his pictures. His style is dark, ethereal and dreamy, he mostly shots ghostly female figures in black and white, using double and long exposures. The results are dreamy and haunting portraits that could easily go along with the works of other artists I love as Rimel Neffati, Kristamas Kloush and Deborah Sheedy. You can check more Antonio’s work on his amazing Flickr feed.

Tumblr

Images © Antonio Palmerini

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: Antonio Palmerini, black and white, dark, double exposures, ethereal, long exposures, obscure, painting, photography

The surreal photography of Janine Machiedo

August 18, 2016 10:13 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Janine Machiedo, photography, photo manipulation, dark, obscure, surreal

After a couple of holiday weeks I am happy to be back with a full post, this time, to present you Janine Machiedo, a Germany based fine art photographer.

As a lot of other artists I wrote about (Kristamas Klousch, Elyssa Obscura, Rimel Neffati) she often uses herself as the model for her creations, and if this could be just a matter of convenience – she’s always available (quoting the great Francesca Woodman) it is also probably the sign that the stories she wants to tell are strongly related to her dreams and feelings.
Janine has very good skills at using Photoshop in order to shape her photos in ethereal and surreal, almost paint-like pictures, and her work has some similarities with Brooke Shaden’s art.
Her style is also more heterogeneous if compared to the body of work of other similar artist, but reading the presentation on her website it’s clear Janine wants no boundaries for her art!

Please check some examples of her art and then head to her website for more.

Website

Images © Janine Machiedo

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts

Etehereal , obscure photography by Mirjana Grasser

July 21, 2016 9:30 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Mirjana Grasser, photography, dark, obscure, black and white

Today I’m happy to present you another beautiful discover I made on Instagram, the dreamy and obscure photography by Mirjana Grasser. I must admit it, at first I thought that Mirjana Grasser was an alter ego of Ana Mar. If you compare the pictures on the two profiles, you’ll notice a lot of similarities, but, nonetheless I investigated a bit and found out the they are from two different artist.
If you analyze carefully the pictures, anyway, you’ll notice that Mirjana’s works are sometimes softer, less glacial and cold; the sepia tones and the sporadic use of muted colors are sometimes making the difference. Mirjana depicts lonely silhouettes in the distance, surrounded by trees and by nature, the feelings that communicate these photographs are about loneliness and melancholy and at the same time tranquillity and peace. Flowers close up shots and in studio pictures appear often to break the stream, giving a more variegated tone to the whole body of work.

You can find Mirijana on Instagram

Instagram

Images © Mirjana Grasser

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: black and white, dark, Mirjana Grasser, obscure, photography

Sail (uselessarm)

July 14, 2016 9:30 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

I remember being immediately in awe when I saw Sail’s (or Uselessarm’s) art for the first time. It was almost a couple of year ago, just when I started this blog and I immediately featured “The wake; a sound of you” in this [enchantment] post.
Probably if I was given the opportunity to pick up one illustrator and being gifted with some of his artworks I would definitely chose Sail. In his pieces, I find almost everything I look for in art: they’re dark and obscure yet ethereal and minimal, they’re black and white; the depicted figures are strong with that strength that only can be achieved with delicate lines and heavy contrast.

It’s pretty amazing to discover (you must absolutely read this interview on Supersonic Art) that Sail is self-taught and that his steps into art were highly influenced (and, most of all, supported) by his parents.
Talking about the various sources of inspiration for his enigmatic female portraits, he mentions Asian and American Native culture of his environment, being fan of South American Magical Realism and literature. He spends a lot of time reading until a spark of some visual ideas instills in his head and he then starts working on it. The results are breathtaking, please check the examples here and then head to Uselessarm’s website for more.

Website

Images © Sail (uselessarm)

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: black and white, dark, illustration, ink, obscure, Sail, Uselessarm

Obscure photography by Incatenata

June 30, 2016 9:30 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Incatenata, photography, dark, obscure, black and white

Arianna Negrelli aka Incatenata (italian word for “in chains”) is another mysterious girl armed with a camera and a good dose of darkness in her soul.I noticed her pictures some months ago (here you can find the [enchantment] post) and I immediately noted her name down for a possible full post on the blog.

Incatenata’s work is really dark, obscure and mysterious; her mainly black and white pictures, speak of loneliness, desolation and solitude. There are two main themes in her body of work: (self-?)portraits and landscapes.
The pictures of her body laying on the floor of a room, naked in a dark corner or lying in the bed are as sad as the stark landscapes she captures in low light, bare trees and desert fields. Sometimes these two worlds collide and we can see her figure in the distance on the shore, standing or laying there too. In any case, the feelings emerging form the pictures are the same; there is not much hope or light emerging from Arianna’s work, we have a further statement about this (if needed …) on the titles of the images: despair, la caduta di un corpo (the fall of a body), agony, tormento senza nome (nameless torment) and so on.

Sometimes these pictures remind me another great photographer, Rebecca Cairns (full post here), although Incatenata’s work is a lot darker.

Please check the examples here and then head to her Tumblr blog.

As usual, if you like this article, please share it!

DeviantArt

Images @ Incatenata

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: black and white, dark, Incatenata, obscure, photography

Mysterious self-portraits by Kristamas Klousch

June 23, 2016 9:30 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Kristamas Klousch, photography, solf portraits, dark, obscure

This is a post I should have written some time ago, probably it could have been the first one on the blog. The artist I’m going to talk you about probably needs no introduction at all, her pictures are shared everywhere on the internet, have been featured on blogs and magazines, are on the cover of books and CD’s. Her dark, eerie and delicately erotic at times, self-portraits are already a great source of inspiration for a lot of other female photographers around the globe.
She is one of my favourite artists and that’s why I didn’t write this blog before; sometimes it’s hard to talk about artists you appreciate so much, the chance is you sound like a fanboy! Anyway, as some days ago she finally put online her website again, I thought this was the right time to write about her: Kristamas Klousch.

Kristamas is a photographer that prefers to be called a ‘Caricature artist’, ‘a strange wolfgirl living deep in the forests & cities of Canada’ as stated in her portfolio.

She is a mystery. Not only because of her self-portraits, where she always plays with her identity using masks, wearing costumes and hiding behind out of focus shots; but also because it’s very difficult to find interviews or any other info about he, or her art, on the net. Reading the short introduction on her website, we understand she is inspired by Francesca Woodman, Sarah Moon and Leonard Cohen among many other artists; all the rest is up to our guessing or imagination.

And what I guess, is that she enjoys playing with her personality (and at the same time with the viewer’s curiosity), creating amazing self-portraits that tell a part of a story we, as viewers, are called to complete. About her photographic technique I think she probably utilizes both analog and digital cameras and she edits the resulting images in Photoshop (or similar editing softwares).

Let me just add that Kristamas is a kind and (disponibile) person. Some years ago I got in touch with her, asking for the possibility to use one of her images on the artwork cover of the EP “Redefine my pure faith” of my band “all my faith lost …”. The EP was a special one: a collection of our own cover versions of Black Tape For a Blue Girl songs, and Kristamas’ art made it way more unique.

Website

Posted in: Full, Visual Arts ⋅ Tagged: dark, Kristamas Klousch, obscure, photography, self portraits

Obscure self-portraits by Jenn Violetta

June 16, 2016 9:30 am ⋅ nofaithvisuals

Jenn Violetta, photo manipulation, digital art, obscure, art, creepy

Behind the artist I’m going to present you today there is a lot of mystery. I can’t remember the first time I’ve seen one of her artworks on the internet, but I think it was about 10 years ago. I seem to recall she had an official website with lots of images and maybe some information about her.

At the present time, though we are left with a Tumblr blog with a few pictures and an official Facebook page with almost zero details. What we know is that her name (or nickname) is Jenn Violetta, she probably lives in Seattle and she makes amazing dark digital photo manipulations.

I would put her among other self-portrait artists I’ve featured here on Reflectedfaith such as Rimel Neffati or Kristamas Klousch, despite having a totally different style. She usually depicts her head exclusively, and her style is dark, creepy and often disturbing. In every one of her works, her face appears someway ruined, with blood flowing from scars or from the mouth with black-and-blue lips as if she has been beaten. Her skin is livid, covered in bandages at times, or juxtaposed together with flames and smoke. It’s not for us to know if Jenn is trying to give a tangible form to her fears, if she’s expressing her own condemnation of violence on women or if she just enjoys the process of mangling her face. The result, anyways, is always amazing and I consider her one of the best digital dark artist around these days. Check these examples and google her name to see more of her art, as, unfortunately, in her Tumblr blog and Facebook page there are not so many images to see.