Tag Archives: arte macabra

BB Contest Awards 5

The time has come to reveal the results of the fifth edition of the Bizzarro Bazar Contest!

This year, the entries were once again numerous and full of imagination, and I sincerely thank all the participants: our family of bizarre creatives gets bigger and bigger every year, and this can only fill me with pride.

Let’s get started!

Sambuco envisioned, for his vintage composition, “an old-time newsie intent on shouting, in these words, the praises of Bizzarro Bazar’s hypothetical store of wonders.” No better way to start!

For all the world’s
Satiated souls
Fascinated
By the unexplored
Seeking the wonder
To which our brains
Are unaccustomed!

Run hungry
Run fast
For every taste
And personality
There are stories
Of life and death
Of strange and macabre
Amenities!

Run curious
Run fast
For every taste
And sensibility
Bizzarro Bazar’s store
Opens its doors
Of wonder!

(Sambuco: Instagram)

Any fortune teller can read the future regarding classic questions about health, love or work.
But the fortune teller envisioned by Andrea Kendall Berg answers only strange and unusual questions — thanks to the intercession of her wacky otherworldly friends.
The only downside: the tarots end up giving the same answer every time…

(Andrea Kendall Berg: Instagram)

Elena Baila, in those idle, torrid days of summer, created this little animation that, in addition to paying homage to Bizzarro Bazar, seems to me to be an excellent advertisement about the risks of prolonged exposure to the sun.

(Elena Baila: Instagram, Facebook)

Perhaps works of art should never be analyzed in search of literal metaphors, but in Debora Campagnoli’s self-portrait, it almost seems as if her eyes have decided to look at the world through the lens of the Macabre… resulting in the brilliant colors of life in bloom breaking through the monochrome.

(Debora Campagnoli: Facebook)

ElaGhi has composed a lyric with a romantic, crepuscular tenor: lending her voice to a statue, her verses transport us to the mournful, decadent atmosphere of a Victorian cemetery.
Who among us would not want to walk among those bumpy tombstones under a leaden sky?

(ElaGhi: Instagram, Facebook)

Here’s a question that everyone asks themselves at one time or another: can a flayed woman still be beautiful and sensual?
What’s that you say? You never wondered? Dude, you really are strange.
In any case, Pamela Annunziata shows us that the answer is unequivocally positive. (Pamela Annunziata: Instagram, Facebook)

“I am vast, I contain multitudes,” wrote Walt Whitman.
Eleonora’s surrealist collage seems to suggest a similar inner immensity — with that anatomical Venus from whose entrails, as in a fantastic eruption, phrenological heads, Phoenix Arabs, circuses and hot air balloons emerge…

(Eleonora – Lola thumbnails: Instagram, Facebook)

Astrid, who sends me her work from Germany, created this fairy-tale chamber of wonders; the truly original solution is that she used an AI image generator to fill it with arcane and mysterious objects, then integrated the results into her digital painting.
The result is a Hermetical and indecipherable wunderkammer!

Regarding his stunning new creation, André ElRagno Santapaola writes, “I was inspired by two themes that are very dear to me, which I discovered and delved into precisely thanks to Ivan: anatomical preparations and Witkin’s magnificent photographs.
I made this silicone sculpture using a live cast, which I then tried to paint it in a hyperrealistic way. Being my first attempt with these techniques and materials, I am satisfied with the result.
I later set up the photograph by adding elements taken from my wunderkammer (the book is last year’s special prize!); the result is an anatomical preparation of a bizarre, yet beneficial, disease: curiosity.”
If you need a special effects artist for your next movie, now you know who to call! (André ElRagno Santapaola: Instagram, Facebook)

Illustrator Dimitri Fogolin places me in a singular tech-noir setting, where shady individuals with additional limbs implanted on their backs roam, where distinguished ladies wear gas masks, trains are sentient biomechanical hybrids, and mysterious dark ladies plot in the shadows.
Which is actually is a pretty accurate description of my everyday life. (Dimitri Fogolin: Instagram, Facebook, website)

It is no mystery that I have a soft spot for Elena Simoni a.k.a. Psychonoir’s tiny, delightful drawings, so much so that above my desk hangs the post-mortem portrait she gave me for last year’s contest .
This time Elena imagined a procession of freaks, saints, mummies and monsters (all inspired by topics I have covered over the years), marching to support the right to be proudly weird.
The only rally I would gladly attend in my life. (Elena Simoni Psychonoir: Instagram, Facebook )

WINNERS

Third prize

“There is treasure everywhere.”
With this phrase (borrowed from a volume of Calvin & Hobbes) Elisa Caviola presents her work, which won third place not only for its very elegant graphic rendering, but especially because it mixes digital techniques with an ancient and fascinating nineteenth-century printing method: cyanotype.

Elisa writes, “Lucky are those who look at the world with awe and wonder, because so much magic and beauty surrounds them. Especially in places where no one looks.” And even just watching the chemical process take place, and the cyan-blue emerge ever brighter, is something enchanting:

And here is the completed work: (Elisa Caviola: Instagram, Facebook)

Second prize

Chiara Toniolo, who won second place, decided to portray herself as an anatomical Venus intent on reading my book Mors pretiosa; what struck me, besides her beautiful pencil stroke, was the unusual atmosphere, languid and homely, and that almost casual caress of the skeletal cat…
Chiara says, “I could have depicted one of the many wax Venuses in anatomical museums, but it’s my professional deformation as an artistic nude model that’s to blame: I always have to put my face in it, and this time my guts too!” (Chiara Toniolo: Instagram, Facebook)

First prize

Gaberricci had also participated in our contest a couple of years ago, winning the third prize; this year, however, he really outdid himself, creating a very tasty and amazing whimsical crossword puzzle.
Virtually ALL of the definitions in these crossword puzzles refer to some article or video I posted here on the blog!
A true masterpiece of humor and puzzles, which will require a lot of effort to solve but, possibly, will make you discover (or remember) a myriad of unexpected and curious stories. What better to ask for?

(Gaberricci: website)

We have come to the end, and I am, as always, touched and moved. Once again, thank you to all the participants for gifting me with these wonderful works; I hope you enjoyed making them as well.
If you enjoyed any particular work, please remember to show your appreciation to the authors in the comments section.

Keep The World Weird!

BB Contest Awards 4

Finally, here are the results of the fourth edition of the Bizzarro Bazar Contest!

All the participants showed that they have a truly out of the ordinary fantasy and, like the other years, I was amazed and moved by the care and commitment that emerge from the realization of these works.
[Small note: among the many works that were submitted, there are some that I reluctantly had to exclude as they did not follow the rules of the contest.]

Let’s start with our parade of oddities!

A nice little fetus in a jar welcomes us, in the naive painting by m.pitturessa.

(m.pitturessa: Instagram)

ElaGhi’s evocative poem is a melancholic twilight vision that the Scapigliati would have loved.

(ElaGhi: Instagram)

Andrea Carrozzo’s memento mori seems to echo some verses of E.A. Poe (A Dream Within A Dream), but here the sand that the skeletal hand cannot hold is actually the dust to which, according to the famous maxim, man is forced to return .

Matteo Ruggeri transformed me into a creature of Italian folklore.
“I imagined it — he wrote me — as a page extrapolated from some bestiary or cryptozoology book, containing a mythological version of yourself, illustrated and duly described in its physical features and, obviously, in its supernatural faculties.”

I love the detail that I have the superpower to remove a cyst with a simple touch, but then I’ll keep it!

Thanks to Greta Fantini, now even Joseph Merrick is among my most loyal readers.

(Greta Fantini: Instagram, sito web)

Stefano Luciani has designed a Bizzarro Bazar deck of cards… perfect for serving your opponent the “dead man’s hand” (A ♠ A ♣ 8 ♠ 8 ♣).

(Stefano Luciani: Facebook)

Inside her wunderkammer (also containing a skull that looks suspiciously familiar) Chiara Toniolo is testing the size of a glass bell to fit her head.

(Chiara Toniolo: Instagram, Facebook)

Valentina, aka Cher Macabre, wondered what a hypothetical Bizzarro Bazar freakshow might look like. “Well, to try to answer the question, I decided to modify a photo a dear friend took of me years ago using one of the skulls in my collection. In working on it, I was inspired by those period images that have been analyzed several times on the pages of the blog.”

(Cher Macabre: Instagram)

Er Cantastorie, who tells stories, curiosities and more or less forgotten characters from Rome, dedicated this delightful rhyming profile to me. It’s twenty years now since I have been adopted by this city, so I can only be delighted by this Roman dialect little poem.

(Er Cantastorie: Instagram, Facebook)

The delicate work of Pamela Annunziata is dedicated to one of the most famous and mysterious figures of all time: the beautiful face framed by this floral pattern is that of l’Inconnue de la Seine, a story I wrote about many years ago.

(Pamela Annunziata: Instagram, Facebook)

Amedeo Capelli has created a colorful automaton in papier-mâché and wood, showing a poor skeleton condemned to a neverending escape from a fox that seems to have come out of The Little Prince. But is it really an escape, or are they just playing together? You decide, in any case the scene is exquisitely… bizarre.

(Amedeo Capelli: Instagram, Facebook)

In Christian Galli’s fantastic illustration, my shrunken head has become part of the collection of wonders of a mutant scientist who closely resembles the protagonist of The Fly.

(Christian Galli: Instagram, Facebook)

Simona Naddeo turned me into a cross between a sideshow barker and a mephistophelian Sgt. Pepper. What more could you ask for?

(Simona Naddeo: Instagram)

In this work by Midnight Mary, the horror vacui materializes in a surprising catalog of objects that we have talked about in the two seasons of the web series, but not only. Impossible not to get lost trying to identify them all!

(Midnight Mary: Instagram)

Literally everything happens in Niccolò Ferrari’s drawing: gosh, I can’t even take my little skeleton in a stroller to the park, without all hell breaking loose.

Before moving on to the winning works, an honorable mention certainly goes to Elena “Psychonoir” Simoni.
I must confess that I was startled for a moment when I first saw this post-mortem portrait, so accurate. Even more so since Elena immediately offered to send it to me: giving a person a drawing of them in a coffin would be considered in bad taste — indeed, a really shocking gift! — in a normal context.

But with Bizzarro Bazar I tried to create a space in which normality is questioned, as well as taboos and the very concept of “good taste”. For this reason, Elena’s kind gift seemed to me a gesture that was anything but disrespectful, one that is possible only on the account of a profound affinity; the kind of complicity that I’ve felt with many of those who follow my work.
And then this small portrait, on closer inspection, has its own particular sweetness. Maybe I’ll keep it, as a memento mori, above my desk…

(Elena Simoni a.k.a. Psychonoir: Instagram, Facebook)

Terzo premio

When I kicked off this blog 12 years ago, I would have thought everything except that I would become the protagonist of a detective story.
Instead, according to Ingrid Atzei, “in Italian fiction, in my opinion, a protagonist with your interests and skills could be declined in many different ways. In fact, to date, we have a whole catalog of eccentric law enforcement consultants, but we still don’t have an expert on the uncanny and… it would work so well! “

Thus, in her short story La danza, she cast me in the shoes of an “expert in oddities” who’s called to assist Commissioner Stevelli in the investigation of a series of mysterious deaths that occurred in a remote Sardinian village, and which appear to be connected to ancestral pagan rites.

You can download the PDF of Ingrid Atzei’s story (in Italian) by clicking here.

Secondo premio

Andrè Elragno Santapaola has created a small anatomical text in the literal sense of the term, whose incredible pages are made of vascularized flesh, bones, tendons, adipose masses. A visceral book that is like a glimpse into the fragility of the body and its inconceivable ravines.
There are three quotes that punctuate this Cronenbergian anthology of flesh: a sentence of mine on the concept of autopsy, a splendid passage by Gottfried Benn, author of Morgue and other Poems, and finally the verse from Ecclesiastes from which the concept of vanitas was born.
“The individual pages — as Andrè explained — were sculpted with MonsterClay and subsequently copied in white epoxy resin and painted with acrylics and oil colors. The “leather” cover was created using various layers of latex, painted with very thin layers of diluted acrylic.”

(Andrè Elragno Santapaola: Instagram, Facebook)

Primo premio

Lola specializes in the creation of themed miniatures, inspired by music, literature and the world of cinema.
For Bizzarro Bazar she composed this delightful mini-wunderkammer that is a feast for the eyes: between mandrake illustrations, movie posters, ex voto, anatomical plates, copies of the Necronomicon and vintage photos, the level of detail is amazing.
Not only has Lola miniaturized my books, but just look at that vial that seems to contain one of the fetuses from His Anatomical Majesty… an entire world collected under a glass bell.
Everything is finally sealed with a quote from one of my favorite passages by Mandiargues… truly astonishing.

(Lola miniature: Instagram)

If you liked some work in particular, be sure to show your appreciation to the authors in the comment section.
In the coming weeks I will also post these beautiful works on social networks.
Thanks again to everyone for putting a smile on my face and awe in my heart, and I hope you enjoyed it too!

Zdzisław Beksiński

Zdzisław Beksiński (1929-2005) è noto come uno dei maggiori artisti polacchi della seconda metà del ‘900. Nel 1975 una giuria di critici lo nominò miglior artista dei primi trent’anni della Repubblica Polacca.

Dopo un primo periodo di opere minori, nel 1971 Beksiński ha un terribile incidente stradale, quando rimane bloccato con la sua auto all’interno di un passaggio a livello incustodito, nel cuore della fredda campagna polacca. Se la cava con tre settimane di coma e molti mesi di convalescenza. Grazie alla famiglia, e alla sua grande forza d’animo, torna ad essere la persona affabile di una volta: eppure, da quel momento, la sua arte cambia radicalmente.

I suoi dipinti ad olio assumono una qualità gotica, surreale, macabra. Fra architetture impossibili e inquietanti comincia ad agitarsi una moltitudine di figure mostruose, dalla carnalità corrotta e putrida, esseri semifusi con la pietra, nature morte di mondi lontani.

Zdzisław è un uomo schivo e timido: nonostante la sua arte post-apocalittica sia piuttosto cupa e tenebrosa, l’artista è conosciuto per i suoi modi gentili, per la sua piacevole conversazione e per il suo senso dell’umorismo. Non ama la notorietà, e spesso non si presenta all’inaugurazione delle sue mostre. Quando qualche giornalista riesce a fargli una domanda sui suoi quadri, risponde semplicemente “non riesco a pensare a una frase appropriata da dire sulla pittura”.

Alla fine degli anni ’90 il suo nome è famoso in tutto il mondo, in particolare negli Stati Uniti e in Giappone, paese in cui conquista il primato di unico artista contemporaneo polacco inserito tra le prestigiose collezioni dell’Osaka Art Museum, e naturalmente nelle collezioni di musei polacchi e svedesi.

Ed è proprio allora che il destino si accanisce su di lui. Sua moglie, Zofia Stankiewicz, muore nel 1998. L’anno seguente, il giorno della vigilia di Natale del 1999, suo figlio Tomasz Beksinski, noto presentatore radiofonico e giornalista musicale, si toglie la vita.

Il vecchio pittore rimane solo, cade in depressione. Nemmeno la sua morte arriverà in modo sereno: Zdzisław Beksiński viene assassinato il 22 febbraio 2005, accoltellato con 17 pugnalate dal figlio del suo maggiordomo, a causa di un prestito di 100$ che l’artista aveva rifiutato di dare al ragazzo, allora diciannovenne.