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Anatomy of Heaven: Dino Valls

Dino Valls is a Spanish painter of exquisite surreal works which explore the human psyche via the body, medical analogies, religious imagery, and sexuality. Hauntingly beautiful and photorealistic, his paintings have a sense of classicism and an incredible technical virtuosity. The subjects have a radiant, heavenly cast to their faces, reminiscent of classics by old masters and medieval religious paintings. The body is portrayed as fragmented, segmented, doubled, vivisected, deformed, and androgynous – both oddity and sacrosanct vessel. Parts of their anatomy are displaced, scores of needles adorn the ethereal figures.

These images powerfully illustrate statements about the way that the modern body is invaded, pried into, operated upon, examined, measured, and manipulated, making a commentary on the impersonal, objectifying treatment of modern medicine. There is often a disembodied hand taking hold of the subject in a possessive, invasive way, evoking the cold, clinical, authoritative touch of doctors, with sexual and sinister overtones. The surgery they perform on the people is symbolic and laden with dark, occult meanings. I love the subtly disturbing way in which Valls uses anatomical symbolism and naked human vulnerability to create these resonant images, and the way that he both perverts and glorifies the human form and spirit.

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Irina Ionesco

Irina Ionesco is a French-Romanian photographer who began exhibiting her work in the mid-1970s. Her photography is dark, dramatic, erotic, and strongly evocative of a vintage aesthetic, with lots of influence from the 1920s, reflecting the lavishly ornamental tendencies of that period, feathers, furs, headdresses, and all, with its vampish, sexy yet macabre vibe.

Irina’s images of her daughter, Eva Ionesco, were very controversial, as you can probably imagine. In these, the prepubescent Eva is displayed in an array of nude, erotic, and bondage-inspired poses, with an intense gaze, a seeming precocious knack for modeling, and a weird, Lolita-esque allure. I find these photos to be some of Ionesco’s most interesting work, however.

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“The Exorcism of…” by Anti Sweden

I love the movement in this film, the dark, wild kinetic energy. Directed by Marius Tharaldsen and modeled by Vilde Victoria Madsen, for design agency Anti’s newly launched black denim line, “Anti Sweden.” Inspired by the Norwegian “culture of darkness” and the spirit of black metal’s aesthetics.

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Chris Berens – “Leeuwenhart”

Chris Berens’ Leeuwenhart show is currently exhibiting at the Roq La Rue Gallery in Seattle. These precious, glowing, softly translucent works have a surreal fairytale-land feel, and a unique look which comes from Berens’ singular method of using inks (as well as bistre, graphite, and parquet lacquer) on inkjet photo paper, and piecing the works together in a patchwork fashion in 1-3-inch pieces; some patches are suffused with a haze, while others are sharp to the point of photorealism. The overall effect has a lot of depth, layering, softness, and wonderfully dreamlike, gently bizarre qualities.

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Pedro Pires’ “Danse Macabre”

“For a period of time, while we believe it to be perfectly still, lifeless flesh responds, stirs and contorts in a final macabre ballet. Are these spasms merely erratic motions or do they echo the chaotic twists and turns of a past life?”

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Una Burke’s Medical Armor

Una Burke’s Re.Treat is a conceptual collection of artwear inspired by prosthetic devices and medical braces and the process of healing from trauma. The warrior-like body armor is reminiscent of medical corsetry, and evokes the idea of using human flesh as a shield against psychological harm. The means of protection also become a means of entrapment, binding the body tightly. She cites a few of her influences as Hans Bellmer, Alexander McQueen, and Erwin Olaf.