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The Five Spookiest Artists on Phantasmic
Happy Halloween, everybody! Here at Phantasmic it's kinda like Halloween every day, but on this auspicious holiday we wanted to take a quick look at five particularly gruesome and spooky artists in our vast collection.
Suehiro Maruo
Gory, perverse, and expertly crafted describes the prolific career of artist Suehiro Maruo. Maruo’s work is a cross cultural collage of various more unpleasant aspects of history, combining elements of Weimar Germany era silent cinema and muzan-e (atrocity prints) from pre-20th century Japanese artists. Maruo has adapted the works of literary ero-guro maestro Edogawa Rampo, but also has deftly crafted and cruel stories such as Mr. Arashi’s Amazing Freak Show (known as Tsubaki Shojo in Japan) and The Laughing Vampire.
The many art books of Suehiro Maruo are available here.
Takato Yamamoto
A baroque art style that combines elements of Pre-Raphaelite paintings and Ukiyo-e prints to create an ethereal and grotesque atmosphere. Viscera and bones are arranged around pale figures as if they were a bouquet of flowers. Primarily known for his work as an illustrator, Yamamoto has dabbled in manga as well, with his one shot story, Into Darkness.
The works of Takato Yamamoto are available here.
Midori Hayashi
Though she started off in the video games industry, Midori Hayashi began crafting dolls as a side hobby. As her skills developed she began to incorporate metal work and animal bones into her creations. Now her world is inhabited by animal bodies with cherubic faces grafted onto them and collage like assemblies of bones, machine parts, and limbs. As gruesome as her creations are, they bear a tranquil appearance which suggests that YOU are the out of place one encroaching on their world.
Midori Hayashi's Night Comers is available here.
Yasushi Nirasawa
Yasushi Nirasawa(1963-2016) was a masterfully talented sculptor, artist, and creature designer. He lent his talents to major series such as Devilman and Kamen Rider, but also created his own cast of characters such as Nina Dolono and Edo Blackshrimp. His work has spanned video games, manga, RPG manuals, tokusatsu and garage kits with just about everything he crafted containing nods to his favorite horror films such as Phantom of the Paradise and Alien.
The books of Yasushi Nirasawa are available here.
Hideshi Hino
One of the founding fathers of horror manga, Hideshi Hino has been deeply revered over the decades for his combination of scenes depicting gruesome violence with deceptively simplistic characters reminiscent of children’s books. Along with publishing manga such as Red Snake and Panorama of Hell, he has also dabbled in film with two entries in the infamous Guinea Pig series: Guinea Pig 2: Flower of Flesh and Blood and Guinea Pig 5: Mermaid in a Manhole.