Fans of morbid, twisted art should definitely make it a point to visit New York’s Last Rites Gallery, which is having its grand opening exhibition this month.  The gallery is owned by world-famous tattoo artist Paul Booth, who is known for his work with several celebrities and bands, including Slayer, Pantera, and Mudvayne.   The inaugural exhibition includes a few paintings by Booth, along with works by Stephen Kasner, H.R. Giger and several other talented artists.

Booth and gallery director Genevive Zacconi state the following about the intent of the gallery:

"We feel that the most powerful art is that which touches the viewer emotionally. By hitting a nerve, this work will often cause one to look inward and explore their own feelings and intense thoughts. Facing one’s fears, negating puritanical taboos, and tapping into often repressed emotions is truly empowering and this is where dark art finds its strength. Last Rites Gallery offers a place to recognise this work as it relates to the individual."

Judging by the samples posted on the site, visitors to the gallery will have a chance to see (and possibly purchase) some truly disturbing and bizarre works of art.   It’s pleasing that such a gallery exists, and it should be very interesting to see what future exhibits will contain. 

I’ve always wished that metal music would find its way into more Hollywood films (Cannibal Corpse in Ace Ventura anyone?) but uh, this isn’t quite what I had in mind - a recent post by Seattle’s The Stranger brought to my attention the work of Matthew Barney, an experimental artist and filmmaker.  Barney is the boyfriend of Icelandic singer Björk, so you know he’s probably kind of strange. 

Barney is most famous for The Cremaster Cycle, a series of five surrealist films exploring the process of creation, linked through the concept of the male cremaster muscle and the theme of sexual differentiation.  Metal fans will be most interested in Cremaster 2, which includes Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo drumming while accompanied by… a swarm of bees.  As weird as it sounds, the end result is actually pretty cool, almost making you wish that more bands used controlled bee noises as a primary instrument.  Morbid Angel vocalist Steve Tucker provides some growls to go along with the insects and drums, and he was also a good enough sport to allow himself to be coated with bees while singing.  You can check out a clip of Lombardo’s performance in the movie on YouTube.

Speaking of Dave Lombardo, check out this month’s Decibel issue for an interesting article about Lombardo’s initial clash with the rest of the members of Slayer, and their subsequent reunion.  It really gives you an appreciation for Lombardo’s talent, and provides a glimpse into the various strong personalities of the band members in the early days of their career.

Metal fans should recognize Arik Roper’s artwork from several High on Fire albums, Mammatus’s "Mammatus," and Sleep’s "Jerusalem" and "Dopesmoker" albums.  He’s also done work for Sunn O))), Boris, Om, and Southern Lord.  His style is pretty easy to identify by its comic/fantasy feel and psychedelic influence.  Roper has recently begun branching out into other areas such as poster design, graphic illustration, and animation.

Visit ArikRoper.com for a nice gallery of his artwork.  You can also buy prints of a couple of his works.

Virtually unknown before his ground-breaking work on Mastodon’s "Remission" and "Leviathan", Paul Romano’s colorful, in-your-face style is quickly spreading through the genre.  His list of clients now includes numerous big-name metal and hardcore bands: Dead To Fall, Earth, Godflesh, Hate Eternal, Nasum, The Red Chord, and Trivium are some examples.  He also still maintains a close relationship with Mastodon, not only handling visual design but also providing creative and conceptual input alongside the band.

Romano’s work was covered in a great article by the Philadelphia City Paper titled "Blood on the Canvas".  The article describes the origins of some of Romano’s paintings for Mastodon, as well as how Paul met the band and got started in the extreme music genre. 

Paul’s website at WorkHardened.com provides a comprehensive gallery of his cover artwork.  The Work Hardened Store offers prints of some of Romano’s best-known works, including the "Leviathan" and "Remission" paintings.

Unlike most of the artists you’ll read about on this site, Tara McPherson not only does work for extreme metal acts, but has actually collaborated with several mainstream bands too: Beck, The Decemberists, Depeche Mode, Green Day, Jimmy Eat World, and Queens of the Stone Age, to name a few.  Her extreme music industry work mainly restricts itself to tour posters; she’s lent her distinctive style to clients like Neurosis, Mastodon, ISIS, and High on Fire, and Today is the Day. 

Aside from gig posters, McPherson has also done several illustrations, comic book covers, and fine art pieces, and has exhibited her art in numerous galleries and conventions worldwide.  Many of her paintings have a somewhat cartoonish feel to them, with women in various states of undress being a frequent theme.  Some of the music posters also give off a 70s sort of vibe.  TaraMcPherson.com features vast archives of her work, along with information on how to buy posters, prints, clothing and other merchandise.

Stephen Kasner is another artist with a name that may not be familiar, but whose work speaks for itself.  He did the artwork for Khlyst’s "Chaos is My Name", and has also done work for Himsa, Sunn O))), and numerous other bands.  Kasner’s style is quite dark, often bringing to mind the distorted and damaged figures of Francis Bacon’s paintings. 

Stephen Kasner’s website has a great gallery of his work, and you can also buy originals, prints, silkscreens, and posters of his works.  Kasner has recently released Stephen Kasner: Works 1993-2006, which is available at Amazon and Aquarius Records.

Well this is probably a first - Mike Patton’s Ipecac Recordings label has collaborated with Portland-based toy company UNKL to produce a series of small toy figures for some of Ipecac’s artists.  A new figure will be released each month of 2008, with each one limited to 500 copies.  You can collect all your favorites: Fantomas, Melvins, Tomahawk, ISIS, Dalek, and more!

Ipecac and UNKL plan to offer the figures for sale through various small toy and comic stores, the Ipecac Recordings website, and at shows.  UNKL also has a subscription package where you can get all 12 figures along with additional posters for each artist designed by UNKL.  For more information, including a picture of all 12 figures, check out this article at S.F. Weekly.

One of the more successful artists to ever have their work grace the cover of an extreme metal CD, Dave McKean has had quite a career as a graphic designer, illustrator, and most recently, film director. 

Metal fans will recognize McKean’s work from the album covers for My Dying Bride’s "As The Flower Withers" and "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium," Paradise Lost’s "Gothic" and "Shades of God," and others for Fear Factory, Machine Head, Disincarnate, Life Of Agony, Kreator, Front Line Assembly, Cemetary, and many more. 

Aside from album cover art, McKean has also produced illustrations for numerous comic books and graphic novels.  He often works with writer Neil Gaiman and has contributed illustrations to many of Gaiman’s works, such as "The Sandman" series.  McKean and Gaiman collaborated on the 2005 feature film "Mirrormask," which McKean directed and helped write.  McKean also served as a conceptual artist on two of the recent Harry Potter movies.

There doesn’t seem to be any sort of official website for Dave McKean, so buying prints or other reproductions of his work does not seem possible.  Fortunately, there are several great fan sites which feature large galleries of his art.  Check out The Art of Dave McKean.

WEARETHEROBOTS artist Justin Bartlett may not be a household name for metal fans, but there’s a pretty good chance you’ve seen some of his work.  He’s compiled quite an impressive list of clients: Amber Asylum, Dodheimsgard, Aura Noir, Trap Them, Beyond Dawn, Averse Sefira, Gorgoroth, Moss, Peaceville, Earache, Candlelight, Southern Lord, Aurora Borealis, the list goes on.  He also designed the Intronaut logo, CD cover and layout for the "Void" album, and has contributed artwork for several Sunn O))) t-shirts.

Justin’s site at WEARETHEROBOTS.com features a nice gallery of his work, along with a blog of sorts and a small store.  You can also find him on MySpace. 

 
Ghost of Perdition, © Travis Smith/Seempieces

Most metal fans should be very familiar with Travis Smith and his artwork.  He’s been responsible for some of the most memorable album covers and layouts for many of metal’s most well-known bands: Anathema, Katatonia, Opeth, King Diamond, Soilwork, Strapping Young Lad, Death, and Amorphis, to name a few. 

Seempieces, Travis’s website, contains a large gallery with samples of artwork that he’s done for numerous bands.  He also mentions that it’s possible to contact him and request custom prints of most of his artwork, which is awesome.  You can also keep up with Travis/Seempieces’s latest news at the Travis Smith MySpace page.  Metal Perspective did an interview with Travis, which you can check out here.