Gothic Fantasy Art

There are two kinds of "Gothic Art":

1. The one that existed from around the late 12th Century up to well into the 16th century, before the Renaissance. It included sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and illuminated manuscript.

Some example of traditional Gothic Art can be viewed here.

According to the Etymology of "Gothic Art" at Wikipedia, the word "Gothic" for art was initially used as a synonym for "Barbaric", and was therefore used as a derogatory term meaning it was a type of Medieval Art that was unrefined, far from the aesthetic cannons and mainstream shapes of Classical Art of those days.

The "Gothic" qualifier for this art was apparently invented by the Italian Giorgio Vasari, who used it pejoratively as early as 1530, calling Gothic art a "monstrous and barbarous" disorder.

"Gothic art" was strongly criticized by French authors such as Boileau, La Bruyère, Rousseau, before becoming a recognized form of art.

2. A modern movement today that mainly includes fine art, literature and music that infuses a dark emotion or feeling into it.

Gothic art nowadays has often been ignored by the mainstream community, just as general fantasy art has, and is synonymous of "Dark Fantasy Art" which includes tragic themes of death, evil characters, sinister bloody vampires, Femmes Fatales, skulls and pale dead conflicting looking characters.

Why the popularity and resurgence in these modern times of this type of art - which is not for everybody?

eFantasyArt.com has its own insights about this subject (you do not have to agree).

Is Dark Fantasy Art aesthetic? I should first define the word "Aesthetics" to be able to elaborate on these insights regarding "Gothic Art" or "Dark Art" as we see it today.

A couple of definitions of Aesthetics:
Aesthetics according to dictionary.reference.com
Aesthetics according to webster.com

So being aesthetics a word connected with the concept of beauty and knowing that "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", I would not be able to say that Dark Fantasy Art is aesthetic or not since what is aesthetic to someone will not be to someone else. Is there another way to measure the quality of beauty? I think there is and has to do with the emotion that it elicits. There are emotions that are traditionally beautiful and others that are not. What is the emotion that Dark or the new Gothic Art elicits?

Does it lift the spirit? Or does it depress it? Should art lift the spirit? I think “YES”. If an art movement is going to impact a civilization positively, it must lift the spirit. Like the Renaissance artists did. Does this current civilization need a lift of spirit? My answer is a resounding "YES!"

Should it take you to a fantastic world of mystery and conflict? Yes, if it’s Fantasy Art, it should. But it can do that without depressing the spirit of the viewer.

I believe its resurgence is explained easily if we agree that Art is a mirror of the collective emotion of society. If we look at our societies at large, we see the rampant use of mind altering street drugs as well as mind altering psych drugs, so it's no wonder that a portion of our modern art creations manifests dark emotions. And since there is so much of this going on in our civilization today, there is a large audience for Dark Gothic Art.

Is eFantasyArt.com against Gothic Fantasy Art or Dark Art? Absolutely not! I’m against emotions that depress so whatever art it is, if it’s depressing, I will not be able to appreciate it. If I was raising a child or a teenager, I would not expose him/them to influences that will depress their spirit or I would make sure to have him compare depressing art with uplifting art and let him observe how each makes him feel.

There is Gothic Art that I love, that is beautifully rendered and is not depressing, like the one of Anne Sudworth. View it here.

I also like the art of Jasmine Becket-Griffith, Strangeling, most of the times. She is very successful painting Gothic tragic characters with a unique style. I think her success also has to do with her choice of bright color combinations and because her fairies and maidens are beautiful in spite of being sad.

There are many artists creating Gothic Art today that is excessively morbid, dark and bloody. I know that an artist creates what is in their mind and heart and what they feel like creating. But I'd like to tell these artists that are engaged in the creation of excessively dark art, that darkness needs contrast because contrast ads diversity and interest plus the dark with the light complement each other. Art that is too dark cannot be appreciated well, precisely because it's hidden in the dark. Don't end up burying your art in boring darkness.

I believe that Dark Gothic Art will evolve into a kind of art where the darkness of the theme is presented using more vibrant and lighter colors. Art trends change and I wonder how will Gothic Art evolve into? I hope it's into Light Gothic Art.

 

Recommended Reading - Viewing

Gothic Fantasies: The Paintings of Anne Sudworth ~ Anne Sudworth is a famous fantasy artist whose compelling art is full of enchantment and haunting images that capture you in a mysterious way. Please read the above link to learn more of this book.

Gothic & Lolita Bible Volume 1 ~ Gothic & Lolita Bible has played an major role in defining the Japanese Lolita culture style. It's a quarterly mook (a hybrid between a magazine & a book) with great content that includes fashion, cultural guide, and art. This is a true Bible for those in love with goth fashion, and the Japanese Lolita style.

Gothic Lolita Punk: Draw Like the Hottest Japanese Artists ~ You will love this if you're trying to learn manga and anime within a Gothic style. This is cutting-edge how-to guide for beginning artists.

Gothic Lolita Punk showcases top Japanese and Korean Gothic Lolita artists. You will learn their thoughts as they work work in the extremely popular area of anime and manga genre.

Each artist includes a biography, a visual of his best work, in a pictorial gallery with their techniques explained in detail, including materials, guidelines on how-to draw and illustrate , plus a glossary of terms to help the aspiring artist learn how to draw lifelike Gothic Lolita manga and anime characters.

Gothic Art Nouveau: The Art of Matt Hughes ~ A showcase of the fantastic art of Matt Hughes, a leading fantasy artist and educator.

Born of the Night: The Gothic Fantasy Artwork of Joseph Vargo ~ If you dare, walk through the macabre gateway of his art into the darkside of the mind. Joseph Vargas presents a balanced contrast of nightmarish characters with others of tremendous beauty and harmony. His art has become popular because of the way that he exposes inner demons lurking in the dark shadows of the mind, at the same time that he remembers the resident greatness that's always there.

This collection showcases over 100 of Vargo's most popular Gothic fantasy works as well other work published here for the first time. This volume offers a comprehensive insight into Vargo's Gothic creations.

The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker ~ It has a great review from USA Today Bestselling Author Kathryn Smith. It's about the love story of an albino orphan and Alexi in Victorian London, with depictions of Jack the Ripper.

Also view the official book trailer at YouTube about this story with beautiful Chopin, Waltz No 10 as its musical background.