The Dark Arts: Erlend Mork.

Today's post is on the surrealist photographer, Erlend Mork. Mork hails from Norway and is all kinds of awesome! He uses digital photography techniques to create his dark and, well, surreal artwork. It is definitely the kind of thing I think some of my followers could jive to! 

Mork's work is highly reminiscent of H.R. Giger's bio-mechanical style and he quotes Giger as an inspiration.

Mork writes that he is influenced by philosophy and by the idea of looking beyond everyday life as it first appears to us. His work is the symbolic representation of his reflections on these kinds of existential questions. Apparently. So, essentially, it's lovely and dark- just the way we like it. Isolation is a recurrent theme in his work, fuelled by his view that humans are all isolated in one way or another in real life. The creatures in his work are often shown to be mad, lost and isolated as they attempt to seek objective truth in a world in which reality is subjective and relative. 

One of the interesting things about this gentleman is the extent to which he rejects the idea that understanding him and his life is important in order to understand his work. His bio page on his official website (linked here) states: 

'Please don't ask about my biographical irrelevancies. They are more boring than the white pages.' 

I like his no-nonsense approach. According to one interview I read, he always seeks to use metaphors which resonate with everyone rather than relying on obscure metaphors accessible to only a few. You gotta appreciate that! 

Below is a YouTube video of his work. I recommend playing this video alongside Mortelles Illusions by Asphyxia, which I have also linked below for your convenience. 

Goes nicely with 

Enjoy! :)