Nicario Jimenez and Family - The Mask Shops

"The Artist of the Andes / Nicario Jimenez

Retablos are sophisticated folk art in the form of portable boxes filled with brightly colored figurines arranged into intricate narrative scenes. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Retablos were carried through the mountains by Spanish priests as portable religious shrines for Catholic saints. Later, they were adapted by indigenous people to include their own deities and mythologies. Nicario's compositions depict religious, historical and everyday events. His hands move quickly and with confidence to fashion people, animals, and mythical figurines as he creates poignant scenes from a doughy mixture of boiled potato and gypsum powder. For his sculpting process, Nicario's only tool is a small piece of wood resembling an enlarged toothpick." - quote source.

More works by the artist can be found here. Some of the works below were apparently built by family members of the artist.

Check out these Day of the Dead Retablos.

See more at the Zanzibar Trading Co.

Utagawa Sadahide - Two Faced Monsters





















"This sheet is a finished design for a print. It is full of images of monsters depicted from two sides. In this sheet, for example, the figures in the top right and left are two sides of the same monster: one side is of his guise as a man (Genkurô) and the other as a fox. Both figures have the same outline, but in reverse. People would cut out the figures, glue them back-to-back and play with them. For this reason, prints of this type are extremely rare.

Sadahide's images are full of humour. The word for 'monster' in Japanese means literally 'things that change' (bakemono): the theme is perfectly suited to the format."

The works are dated between 1830-1844. Images found at the Victoria and Albert Museum website.

Butt Johnson





















Mario, Patron Saint of Brooklyn

Mario in the great tradition of Saint George slaying the dragon and to a lesser extent, Saint Michael battling Lucifer.

See more of Johnson's work here.
Artist found thanks to Vecchiobipede.

The Crucifixion (detail)





















Master of the Parlament de Paris, France - The Crucifixion

The full painting can be found here.

Monster Brains Online 2 Years


Above is the first banner I made for the site sometime in February 06, I've posted the rest of the logos in the order they've been used across the last few years. I think I've been fairly consistent with this place and hopefully haven't repeated anything. One of the main reasons I started this site was due to the difficulty in finding good artwork associated with the monstrous online. I think I filled that gap with Monster Brains. I already mentioned my plans for the rest of the year but beyond that, I'll be cleaning up dead links in the archives and organizing some past posts of a similar nature to be more easily accessible on the front page. The site will continue to evolve over time and always have a larger and stranger collection of the monstrous and fantastic art for you to see.

Alciato's Book of Emblems




See dozens more in this gallery.
The following emblem engravings are from a collection titled "Ichnographia Emblematica Triplicity Ad Deum Tri-Unum Mysticae Viae" Augsberg, 1779.

More Pictures Of The Tarasque
AngeDemon-Procession de la Tarasque. Arles, Musee Arlaten 1788

Tarasca para el Corpus de 1744 (Madrid)

Tarasca para el Corpus de 1663 (Madrid)





















Tarasca para el Corpus de 1663 (Madrid)





















Sainte-Marthe et la Tarasque






















Above is a Tarasque festival sculpture used about 1850. Materials include metal, fabric, leather, straw of cereal, fabric, paper, paperboard, painting. Additional information (in French) related to this photo can be found here.

Information and additional artwork related to the Tarasque can be found in this previous post.

More pictures of the Tarasque can be found at the wikimedia commons gallery.

Grotesque French Card Game


I stumbled across these strange characters over at Visipix.