Robert Steven Connett

SOMNAMBULANTS

Robert Steven Connett (1951-) is a contemporary surealistic artist. His work is marked by the details, vivid colours, biology and environmentalism with a strong macabre attitude. David Carmack Lewis stated in 2010 about R.S.Connett the following:

There are artists out there who eschew traditional approaches to drawing but are nonetheless obsessed with detail as a way express what are often frightening visions of the world in general and humanity in particular. H. R. Giger and Chris Mars spring to mind. Their roots lie in the dreamlike visions of Heironymous Bosch. It is a difficult artistic path. Most who try it fail to develop a unique vision or compelling style and get mired in cliché psychedelia. This kind of work is often driven by direct experiences with drug addiction, insanity or both, which can explain the rarity of finding such artists who also have the discipline to excel. R. S. Connett has become one of those exceptions.

Visit his SITE to see more of his work and also his Facebook

Memento Mori

PHARMAGARDEN

Death Moths

FEAST of the HAVENOTS

CURIOSITY

Evolutionaries

Supplicant

Crucifixion 001

Dreams & Nightmares

TRANSVOLUTION

Kobayashi Eitaku: Body of a courtesan in nine stages of decomposition (1870)

Painting, handscroll. Ink and colour on silk. Sealed.

The scroll shows the stages of decomposition of the body of a woman, beginning with her fully clothed body and ending with her bones being eaten by dogs. The subject is an ancient Buddhist one, treating of the transience of the physical body, but which later assumed didactic functions relating to the proper conduct of women. In this example, however, the theme is given a new and somewhat prurient twist by its featuring of a prostitute as the subject. The work intersects with the world of ‘erotic pictures’ (shunga) and gives a very useful counterpoint for studying that genre. A prolific and versatile artist trained in the traditional Kano school, Eitaku achieved success rather through ukiyoe works and newspaper illustrations, but his reputation in Japan is not yet as high as it should be. Like many important artists whose careers straddled the end of the Edo period and beginning of the Meiji era, Japanese scholars have found it problematic to classify him. (www.britishmuseum.org)