Daily dose of the surreal

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She hit pause

I bought the picture above at some holiday fair as a Christmas present for my stepfather. He likes the sea, art and pretty girls, so I figured it would be a good match. The picture was duly wrapped, presented, appreciated. Pretty girls + the sun were a win yet again. Done.

For some reason, though, I held on to the photographer’s business card, and kept on returning to his site to look at the shots. There’s something about the dreamy quality of these weathered Polaroids that brings up instant thoughts of half-destroyed vintage magazines and slow-motion summer afternoons. On his website, the shots are described as photographer Matt Schwartz’ “version of the pin-up girl,” and I can’t agree more. Their lazy sensuality is wonderfully captured on film in a sort of Endless Summer. I’d give anything to know the story behind all these shots.

Matt Schwartz for She Hit Pause Studios.

Zhang Haiying

Zhang Haiying drew inspiration from pictures of prostitutes posted on Chinese Anti-Vice Campaign websites to make these pieces. I love the style of his paintings,  so realistic but with just enough left blurred to evoke the motion and seedy lighting that I imagine going hand-in-hand with these scenes. I also really applaud the fact that these paintings recall their photographic inspiration by simply serving as records of events, rather than taking a side on the issue. The girls seem vulnerable, with their frail limbs and covered faces, but thankfully it misses the mark of creepiness. The pictures are a little sordid, but the situation is sordid. Also completely love the contrast between the stern uniforms and the girls’ flimsy little dresses. Details jump out, like the mirroring of the colours of the men’s arm bands and the girls dresses. These are beautiful and fascinating takes on a reality of life in China, and I love the story that emerges from the pictures.

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Strange Little Girls

Those of you who have been playing along for a while might have learned that my taste runs a little to the bizarre and macabre side of things. Not to any crazy extent– I’m not possessed of a cabinet full of deformed things in jars, for instance, but I do enjoy things that are just a bit twisted.

Ray Caesar‘s art suits me perfectly. The world of his work is a world of nightmares, peopled with creepy little girl-women equipped with coy glances and tentacles. His aesthetic simultaneously repulses and compells me, with the tension it holds between the prim costuming and the subjects’ sexuality and creepiness. It’s a depraved little world, toeing the line between fantasy and realism, but I find it fascinating. I’m desperate to know more about all these characters, and what is going on in each scene. Might have to make up the stories all by myself.

More pictures below:

Mood today

Combination of these three elements:

Make of that what you will.

All images from fuckyeahskinnybitch.