Are you ready for the next Beautiful Bizarre TAKE OVER?!
If you are a follower of our Beautiful Bizarre community, you surely love this feature as much as we do. We’ve selected one of our favourite creative minds and friends to take over Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s social media for a whole day. A magical dose of inspiration and creative energies directly from the source and curated with love!
We handed our socials over to Catherine K. Gyllerstrom of BearWolf Books, our great supporter and Platinum Sponsor of the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize. What a special day this was as our friends amazed us with their ingenious curation! In case you missed it on our socials, we put together the TAKE OVER right here for you to dive into. Join us on the adventure into the world of Catherine K. Gyllerstrom of BearWolf Books!
We would like to thank Catherine K. Gyllerstromm once again for their support and generosity as a Platinum Sponsor in the 2024 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize.
Catherine K. Gyllerstrom of BearWolf Books TAKE OVER
Hello Beautiful Bizarre! It’s Catherine from BearWolf Books, where we specialize in heavily illustrated hardcovers and fine art limited editions. For my takeover, I have chosen artists whose work has inspired my and subsequently BearWolf’s design aesthetic. I have also think it is important to highlight some mediums that are often overlooked in the artistic world.
Michael Whelan @theartofmichaelwhelan
I was recently asked whose work sparked my love of Illustration and Imaginative Realism. My immediate answer was Michael Whelan. I will never forget seeing Back into Hell on the cover of Meat Loaf’s album and pouring over the art in the CD booklet as I listened to the songs on repeat. Whelan’s ability to capture feeling and emotion in combination with the color and precision of his landscapes make his work a truly transportive and other-worldly experience.
Omar Rayyan @omarrayyanart
Speaking with Omar Rayyan is like engaging with the very best version of your imagination! Every time that I have floated a commission concept he always paints a scene that is so much more than I could ever fathom. I love that his paintings combine the grandeur of Renaissance oils with the whimsey of children’s illustration, and the subtle humor that only an adult can appreciate. It brings me such joy that I have exclusively hung Omar’s art in my bedroom so it is the last thing I see when I fall to sleep and the first thing I see when I wake up.
Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren @finetaxidermy
I think classical taxidermy is an underappreciated artform that is often conflated with hunting trophies or the grotesque sculptures of Kate Clarke. However, Ferry van Tongeren and Jaap Sinke of Darwin, Sinke & van Tongeren remind us of the majesty and beauty in the animal form as well as the importance of conservation by presenting their subjects as baroque masterpieces whose intense poses and vivid interactions are evocative of Rubens and Willem Kalf. I want to take them all home!
Eva Massey Wong @evanailsssss
Eva Massey Wong’s masterful microworks range from vibrant anime designs to daring 3D H.R. Giger inspired sets, but my absolute favorite are her illustration and Imaginative Realism designs. I find the way she creates freehand fully realized piece of art on the tiniest of canvases, the human nail, is extraordinary, especially when you consider that there are no stencils, sketching or planning beforehand. I love that nail art is a tiny commission that you get to wear, even though it’s quite sad when the design is buffed off. These are four of my favorite sets, each inspired by an artist that holds a special meaning for me.
Forest Rogers @forestrogers
I am captivated by the movement and delicacy in Forest Rogers’s sculptures. For years I searched for the perfect rendition of the goddess Artemis. When I saw Forest’s work, I knew she would capture the very essence of the huntress, because when she sculpts, she truly breathes life into her subjects. Each piece evokes such fluidity and emotion that you can’t help but feel it will leap right off the table.
Cory Godbey @corygodbey
Cory Godbey’s work reminds me of a love letter to the illustrations from Swedish folktales that I grew up with. Though most of his print work appears in its digital form, there is a distinct beauty that can only found in Cory’s underlying graphite drawings. His rippling lines, hidden wildlife, and billowing clouds echo the works of John Bauer and Arthur Rackham, yet each piece is so distinctive that you couldn’t mistake it for anyone else’s.
Patrick J. Jones @patrickjjonesillustrator
While most people draw parallels between Patrick Jones and Frazetta, I find he work has much more in common with Waterhouse and Burne-Jones from his languid brushstrokes to his classical subjects and immersive color palette. Moreover, his mastery of the human form is just superb. But my absolute favorite part about Patrick’s work is that his paintings have become so much more to me than just art. In Patrick, I have gained a warm and gregarious friend, and the seven-part oil installation of Greek mythology in my dining room has sparked so many exhilarating conversations and warm memories.
This was the last inspiring post from our fabulous guest curator for the day, our dear friends at BearWolf Books. Thank you for the Take Over on our Instagram feed and for the inspiration you shared with all of us!
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