Issue 51 of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, with artist Erik Thor Sandberg’s wild painting Correspondence on the cover is on sale now! Contact one of our Stockists or or Shop Online, but don’t miss this special Issue. Take a peek at what’s inside below.
Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Issue 51
Step into the pages of Issue 51 as we explore the work of Frances Featherstone, a British painter whose distinctive vision has quickly marked her out as one of the most compelling figurative artists working today. Known for her luminous oil paintings that bring together figures, interiors, and richly patterned surfaces, she explores how everyday spaces hold layers of meaning that go far beyond geometry.
I hope to convey that stillness and introspection are a gift. These are moments when we learn to appreciate the richness of our lives and the beauty of the world around us.
Frances Featherstone
Photography is painting with light. But in Natalie Karpushenko’s images, that light is coming from within. Hers is a lens capable of penetrating the female soul, of gently meeting the stare of a wild animal and moving with the undulating shapes of deep oceans. The female body is not sexualised but celebrated in its magnificent freedom, humans and nature are intertwined, the water has a quiet strength that almost jumps out of the frame in a glorious soundtrack.
Cover artist Erik Thor Sandberg‘s work feels like it’s from another century, a time when art recorded and breathed life into ancient histories that once were accepted as orthodox canon. Each painting presents as if it were a vignette from some mythic fable of legend, depicting pivotal scenes from epic sagas so that they may be passed on from one generation to another as visual folktales.
I am not trying to make everything clear. I aim for my work to be a bit of a Rorschach test for the viewer. I want people to finish off the story in their own heads. I leave the narratives open for people to interpret and to decide what is going to happen next after the “introduction” or whatever scenery has been depicted.
Erik Thor Sandberg
Steady yourself as we immerse ourselves in the world of artist couple Nina Murashkina and Xavier Escala who have created their own piece of divinity. They’ve taken the medieval shrine – Madonna, a type of religious sculpture abandoned in the 15th century, and have revitalised it through a contemporary feminist gaze – as their ultimate tribute to feminine power.
Sexually charged divinity lies within the shrouded altar of ‘Goddess’. This Grand Prize winning sculpture in the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2025 is deceptive, as viewers are met with a modestly dressed depiction of Madonna wearing an Ancient Egyptian-esque lunar crown. Her arms cover her chest, shielding herself and her purity from the world. However, upon closer inspection, one will soon discover the true essence of her being. Her arms open wide, offering a warm embrace as her inner sanctum is revealed. This inner shrine reveals the true nature of femininity. This divine being, once hidden behind modest clothes, reveals her true power – sexual freedom, independent thought, inner strength, and an innate connection to nature.
Excerpt by Smanatha Dexter
If Remus Grecu’s paintings could speak, they would not deliver arguments or narratives. They would exhale. They would hover at the threshold of sound, not telling but luring – a hum, a vibration, a kind of atmospheric persuasion, murmuring not sense but sensation. His works move differently from much of contemporary art; they seek not provocation or spectacle, but create a velvet intensity where beauty is sharpened into principle.
Dongni Hou‘s poignant pieces are meant to turn the gaze inward and strip away distraction and illusion, unveiling the longing and determination for self-transcendence and the breaking and remaking of ourselves that comes with it. She hopes they guide the viewer to face their own heart and the essence of things. Humanity, in all its self-perceived glory, remains a paradox of vulnerability and resilience, shadow and light, war and peace. The reflections are meant to awaken, and if the viewer lingers, it is because the painting echoes something already alive within them.
Time to get inspired as we learn what Bernadette McConnell, Director of La Luz de Jesus Gallery would like to add to her personal collection in this Issue’s Curator’s Wishlist.
Porcelain feels like poetry in the hands of Katsuyo Aoki. Uncanny, dark, deep in spirit and symbolism, but unfailingly sublime. It carries the weight of centuries-spanning histories woven with the emotional fragility of self-expression and the mysteries of the human psyche, all of which the Japanese artist examines with boundless curiosity. From the religious undertones of her bone-white skulls to the romantic, colour-popping painted pieces, she captures contemporary sensibilities that give her artworks countless nuances.
A portrait by Vladimir Dunjić does more than receive your gaze. “You don’t come to the gallery to watch my paintings,” he smiles. “You come so that the paintings can watch you.” The faces he paints, whether feline or human, are full of mystery. As they look back out at us (or retain their tilted view for the confines of their painted world), the secrets they keep are the culmination of Vladimir’s life as an artist.
Howard Lyon‘s paintings ask the viewer to slow down. They are not sudden flashes but measured breaths: bodies arranged like sentences, light used as punctuation, myth pressed until the everyday handprints of feeling show through. He draws on mythologies not because they explain, but because they wonder— those ancient attempts to translate thunder into the voice of gods, transformation into a punishment or gift, longing into prophecy.
Once upon a time, there was an art collection. This collection was owned by Catherine K. Gyllerstrom, the queen of this fantastical land. It was so breathtaking that all who laid eyes on it were whisked away, transported to an ever-expanding fairytale world where the only limit was Catherine’s imagination. In this issues’ Collector’s Profile, we discover that Catherine K. Gyllerstrom’s art collection isn’t the only fantastical thing about her. As an accomplished historian, art consultant, curator, and owner of independent publishing house BearWolf Books, her cap is donned with many creative feathers.
Inside this Issue, we are also proud to present the Winners and Honourable Mentions of the 2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, who together were awarded US$77,000 in cash and prizes thanks to the support and generosity of our sponsors.
In the Quick Q & A editorial, we ask Dead Seagull, Aico Tsumori, Junna Maruyama, Crisselle, Gina Matarazzo to answer the same four questions:
- What’s a creative risk you’ve taken that completely changed your perspective or practice?
- If your work could whisper one thing to the viewer, what would it say?
- In moments of self-doubt or burnout, what do you do to enable you to keep going?
- Has envy ever shown up in your creative journey? How have you learned to cope with it or transform it?
In this Issues’ Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory editorial we highlight the work of many exceptional artists and photographers including: Andrea Kowch, Alexandra Jabre, Diego Orlando, Katie Middleton, Haejin Yoo, Tristan Elwell, Stasia Schmidt, VZEWL, Victor Wang, Halee Roth, Ornélie, Simona Berea, Krisztina Lazar, Siana Sunghee Park, Ellaya Yefymova, Kathryn “Ka” June, Nico Pearleyes, Dave Seeley, Jari Di Giampietro, Hilary Martin, Jason Behnke, and Stagah Artworks (Anna Chiara Stagi).
In our beloved Lust Haves editorial, we are thrilled to share with you some of the most beautiful and bizarre treasures from around the world, thoughtfully curated by our team to adorn your body and home.
Inside Issue 51: Minnie-Mae Studio, Richard Haining, Divine Savages, Beauvamp, Julie Neill, Minnie-Mae Studio, Softedge Studio, Minnie-Mae Studio, Th•rn, TallBoy Interiors, Business & Pleasure Co., Society Of Wanderers, Rachel Donath, Deborah Sweeney, Kerryn Levy Ceramics, BROM, Jessica Roux Illustrations, MINED + FOUND, Officine Universelle Buly, Lovaan Studios, Holly & Co, Love After Love, Doctor Cooper, Bea Bongiasca, Peracas, Kindred Black, Susana Vega, Eclette.
In our Letter from the Editor, Danijela Krha Purssey welcomes you to the pages of our 51st Issue of Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, and asks us all to ponder, “Who do I want to be, which parts of my psyche do I want to feed so they can grow?”
We all have the potential for goodness, empathy, compassion, and we also all have the capacity for hatred and violence. Perhaps it is time for us all to look more closely at these parts of ourselves and ask: Who do I want to be, which parts of my psyche do I want to feed so they can grow? We can all move through this life with more compassion, more kindness, caring, and empathy – and that is exactly what our world needs right now! Both for all the people who are suffering and of course for our planet and all of its creatures.
Danijela Krha Purssey
In this issue, she delves deeper into the Beautiful Bizarre curated exhibition Reverie at Haven Gallery in Northport, New York, shares updates on the 2025 Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize, and expresses her excitement about partnering with the renowned Australian space Outré Gallery next year for Return to Beauty, Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s next curated exhibition in her home country.
As the year draws to a close and the festive season is upon us, I hope we can all be afforded some peace, time to spend with loved ones, and moments of creativity. Thank you dear reader for purchasing Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, and thus helping to encourage, grow and promote our community of 2 Million + creatives. It is through your
Danijela Krha Purssey
readership that we are able to continue to fulfill our mission to champion artists from all corners of the globe.
And last but never least, enjoy a beautiful collection from Our Community, featuring some of the amazing hashtagged #beautifulbizarre and tagged @beautifulbizarremagazine artworks from our social media of over 2 million followers!
All this inside Issue 51 // December 2025, which showcases some of the best and most inspiring emerging and mid-career artists of our time.
Visit our online store and enjoy Beautiful Bizarre Magazine Issue 51.
