Walpurgisnacht is the traditional night of the most important demonic celebration of the year, when witches and devils roam the earth! Walpurgisnacht is a very sacred time, traditionally a pagan holiday meant to celebrate the arrival of Spring. Also known as the Hexennacht, meaning Witches’ Night, this day has always had a strange pull on the world. It was on this day in 1945 that while entrenched in his Führerbunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide. In 1966, Anton Szandor LaVey shaved his head and established first Church of Satan and in 1993, the World Wide Web was born at CERN (European Council for Nuclear Research).

Art Diabolique was started on April 30, 2008 - one year ago this day.

HÄXAN (film) 1922 by Benjamin Christensen

Witches cavorting naked with lusty devils, a baby drained of blood and tossed into a stew, women lined up to kiss Satan’s bulbous ass and demonic orgies are all depicted in the 1922 film Häxan. Benjamin Christensen’s legendary movie explores the history of witchcraft and its persecution in a semi-documentary form. Its bold depictions of torture, madness, and carnality made this film very controversial at the time of its release. Consequently it was banned outside of Sweden for decades and until recently was only released in edited versions. A few years back Criterion finally released Häxan on dvd with the censored footage restored, a corrected “projection” speed and a new score that recreates the music played at the original Danish premiere. The disk also included some great extras like the 1968 William Burroughs narrarated version with it’s ridiculous jazz soundtrack. It is personal favorite of mine and in its original form Häxan is truly a black-and-white masterpiece of silent horror.

mouth 1 (oil on canvas, 60x90cm) 2004 by Karl Persson

Karl Persson’s work is a wonderful painterly affair showing his love for the figural. Academically rendered, a great number of his works feature human figures, mostly voluptuous nude females, in submissive and distorted positions. The audience is given the point of view of voyeur or master, the one who is subjecting these innocents to cruelty or humiliation for our collective visual pleasure.

“My intellect doesn’t come into play when I am channeling something subconsciously. There is plenty of time for interpretation after a painting is finished. Whenever I look at my finished paintings it is like analyzing a dream‚ deciphering my personal symbolic language.” -Karl Persson.

His work is chock full of sexuality and dormant violence, it is visceral to say the least. It would make any of the “Old Masters” or S&M masters proud.

The Bishop III (china ink on paper, 41x29cm) 2006 by Pedro De Kastro

Apocalyptic, prophetic, mythical and mystical are words that can be used to describe Brazilian based artist Pedro De Kastro’s work, but I think his own words describe it best.

“My work does not promote destruction and war but it tries to reveal what our world can become if the world leaders keep giving attention to paranoia, fear and stupidity and do not dismantle, once for all, ALL the nuclear, biological and chemical arsenals that infest the planet. Its very existence is by itself an infamy and a threat to Life. It´s not enough to say that there is no more cold war. A single hydrogen bomb among the millions of tons which still exist on the planet is enough for millions of human souls to still have a Damocles` sword above their heads.

Einstein was once asked what weapons would be used in the third world war. The scientist thought and answered: I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be surely fought with sticks and stones.” - Pedro De Kastro

The only thing I can say about Kastro’s work is that I love it.

Gates Of Purgatory (mixed media, 18”x24”) 2007 by R.L. Frisby

R.L. Frisby is a self taught artist based in Tulsa who creates complex and obsessively rendered bio-mechanical compositions. They often feature a centralized image surrounded by complicated patterns. While obviously giving a nod to the master of the genre, HR Giger, Frisby’s work is more colorful and has an enigmatic puzzle like quality to it.