St. Catherine of Siena Besieged by Demons





















Tempera painting on panel from 1500, artist uknown. Image found here.

Augustus Charles Pugin - Gothic Ornaments







































































































































































The above lithographs by Augustus Charles Pugin are based on grotesque animal carvings found in medieval churches across England and France. They were taken from the book "Pugin's Gothic Ornament: The Classic Sourcebook of Decorative Motifs with 100 Plates."

Tapestry of the Apocalypse

It shouldn't come as a surprise to know that the largest medieval tapestry in the world is also covered in strange depictions of beasts. It was weaved by Nicholas Bataille and painted by Hennequin de Bruges. The work is on display in a castle located in a castle in Angers, the capital of the historical province of Anjou in France.

"In 1373, the King of France, Charles V, lent his brother Louis I, Duke of Anjou, the manuscrpt of an "Apocalypse in French fully illustrated and historiated: This inspired the Duke to commission "large tapestries of the story of the Apocalypse:. " - quote source

"The battle of Armageddon rages, as Satan, "the great red dragon" (depicted with seven heads), and his minions of composite animals mark their earthly followers. The holy forces retaliate by breaking the seven vials of plagues. It all ends with heavenly Jerusalem, and Satan buried for a thousand years. The slightly flattened medieval perspective has a hallucinatory quality, extraordinarily beautiful and terrifying, evoking the end of the world either in accordance with the first-century text or as a secular holocaust." - quote source

This photo of the tapestry on display shows the epic scale of this work.
Click here and here to see more photos of the tapestry.

Here is another fantastic beast and woodwose filled tapestry from the 15th century. I'm not aware of the artist responsible for this work.

Alex Fantalov








Here is a selection of fantastic mythological works from Alex Fantalov. On his site (warning of tripod pop up) he has on display 200 works inspired by Greek, Scandinavian, Celtic, Russian, Finnish, Zoroastrian, Indian, Chinese and other mythologies.

Yasushi Nirasawa and Takayuki Takeya

Check out a selection of their detailed models here.
See more models here.
Profiles and additional art by both artists can be found here.
Unpainted examples of Takayuki's models here.
More model pics here.

Here is a decapitated head which fortunately comes with a manual on how to feed it.

Below are photographs of one of their more detailed sculptures.







































Below are photos from an insane model that I think is by Takayuki. See more photos of it here.






























Takayuki Takeya was one of the creature designers in Takashi Miike's "The Great Yokai War."

This page has some very cool sculptures although I'm not sure who is responsible for them. Some favorites.. 1 - 2 - 3 - 4

Dave Whitlam





















I first discovered this artist at his gallery in the BeinArt Surreal Art Collective. Armchair Aquarium Annex's post reminded me that he also has a gallery on devinatArt with many large sized examples of his incredible Hieronymus Bosch inspired paintings.

Bill Dunlap's Newest Paintings
This has been a very productive year for Bill Dunlap. Most of his works from 2007 carry a demonic theme through out. Check them out here.

Gray Morrow





















Here's a bizarre scene of a giant flying manta ray attacking people riding lizards. This was created by American illustrator Gray Morrow who was considered a fantastic realist in the science fiction / horror genre. His painted covers for the Creepy and Eerie horror comics can be found scattered around this site.

Jean Spezial

























































Here's a handful of strange works I found over at Jeanspezial's art site. The artwork found here is part of a collective of 7 artists who work together.

Otto Frello
The above is a painting from 1970 titled Torvet. View more paintings by Frello here.

Nathan Spoor






These fantastic paintings reminded me of a bizarre mixture of Charles Burns' comic "Black Hole" and René Laloux's "Fantastic Planet" although they are much more than that. The colors, atmosphere, landscapes and characters, everything in these works is drenched in a strange ocean of mystery and dreams.

View Spoor's personal website here.
A second gallery of paintings can be found here.
Nathan's page at the beinArt Surreal Art Collective.
There is a short interview with Nathan in his studio on this youtube clip.

The top painting with the monster and horses was found in the "Charity By Numbers" art show displayed at the Corey Helford Gallery website.