First of all I have to give credit to some of my earliest influences as far as dark art, and morbid things. When I was just out of Highschool I found out about a gallery called Dark's Art Parlor in L.A. it was run by artists R.H.Phister, and Gomez . I found out about it because my friend had their amazing catalogues. When I finally got to see the art in person I was not disapointed. I went from wanting to just make surreal art to wanting to make dark surreal art. Seeing so much artwork in the vein of what I was interested in really made me aware that what I was interested in wasn't so weird, but it was certainly unique. The other shop I went to was Necromance, it's still there, and has an Annex. They've got all kinds of bones, and skulls, and taxidermied animals. I wanted to live there.
The Dark's Art Parlor website is still up, but it doesn't seem to be updated. Go to check out R.H. Phister's work. When I saw her work she was working in black and white (graphite, I think?) on canvas, and then adding some 3d to it by either sowing in padding, or poking nails or glass thru the canvas. I thought it was really cool.
Without these two shops in LA, I probably wouldn't be who I am. It's a shame that Dark's Art is no more.
Another huge influence has been Clive Barker, and his creation Hellraiser.
