the penitent

old work, new style

so, here are some of my older pieces re-seen, re-designed and re-imagined.
hope you all enjoy

Atopia band cover

good day all internet zombies!
why am i in such a good mood you ask? well, i just finished working on the album covers for UK band Atopia. the results were sweet and the project was awesome.
keen to see some of it?
alright, here we go:

i really enjoy working on album covers and designs, not only is it awesome to know that your art is being showcased, but its a great way of keeping those creative juices flowing.
any other bands out there keen for a album?
i want more

exhibition planning

so some of you might have heard that im in the process of organizing my first ever solo exhibition. Its quite the daunting task, figuring out the logistics ( im planning it for three cities) the cash flow, the right spaces and galleries, the piece selection, getting the right printers....not to mention doing this in a unique and personal manner.

towards the goal of getting it out there i've asked some fellow artists and inspiration gurus to send me a comment or testimonial regarding their impressions of my work. The responses have been out of this world awesome. these are the guys that i look to for guidance when im stuck on a image. the guys that have inspired me to keep pushing forward. the guys that create beauty everyday for millions of people all around the world.

im honoured to be able to have a chat with them let alone have them comment on my art.

to all of you, thank you, you cant believe how much it means.

here's some of the great things they've had to say so far:

- JEIKO D. DESPOTOVICH 

"I was hooked from the word go - Simon's work possess some true grit; a distinctly dark, emotive blend of real and subconscious, with a distinct sense of constant crisis."

- SETH SIRO ANTON

‘’Though Simon Subrosas'  work , you feel the loneliness of the isolated human nature, the earthly boiling colors he uses often makes you feel like you're dreaming ….

A dream which starts from Africa without any destination…a never ending dream …  A serious talented artist  which seeks the knowledge though his art."

- CHAD MICHAEL WARD

"Simon's work skates the fine line between cutting and bleeding edge. Dark, sexy and dangerous, his art is like a trance you can't break."

- MATT LOMBARD:

"This is the beginning . Our savoir rises out of the dust of his ancestors to procreate with erotic malformed entities. His screams erase the pulsating signals of a thousand screens. This is a realm far too impure to call heaven and much too familiar to be known as hell. These are the visions of a savage new world . the world of Simon Subrosa. Yes, this is the beginning, the beginning of great things to come."

- GABRIEL CHAPMAN:

"Simon's work is incredible. His art challenges us on an emotional level. Dreamy, dark, thought provoking, haunting. I have never seen anything quite like it."

- TOM BROWN

Founder Copper Age / Hopeless Maine

"What can i say about Simons's work that won't be damning it with faint praise? I'll give it my best shot but when you take a look at the work..you'll know exactly what i mean. and why words aren't enough. Subrosa's work is Edgy, Timeless, evocative, painterly, and dream like. It's wild, skillful and like nothing else, anywhere. It's like..a new visual mythology. it, profoundly rocks."

- LOVECHESS.COM

"...I do think that Simon SubRosa is an artist worth showing, and I will continue to follow his artistic career. Somehow I have the feeling we are watching a big talent emerging here, all the way from Southern Africa."

how awesome is that?

if you dont know about these artists, get out from under that safety blanket, do a little google search and take a long hard look at their work. trust me, it will blow you away.

if there is something (hopefully nice...or you know....not so nice...) that you , reading this, would like to add please feel free to do so.

stay tuned for more updates about the exhibition as well as new art.

the wounded king

the black madonna

a sequel to a piece i did years ago. i think the two will fit nicely next to each other.

Alchemical dreams

choices

having a hard time picking the one i like the most...
help?

aaand one more

some more new stuff

here's whats been happening.
my great dane had puppies (14 of them) my houses flooded again. i didt sleep for 2 days and started tripping a bit.  i did a great boudoir shoot, but the memory card got corrupted... that really pissed me off.
for some reason everybody has become really curious about me and for the last week ive been getting at least 3 emails a day drilling my brain with questions.
the business (studio) is doing good and money is slowly starting to flow back in rather then simply disappearing into the void that is office furniture.
i had a friend explain various website database non static IT internet terms and principles to me for 3 hours...i think i got aout 10% of it. hoping to get my new project (the corr) started by years end.
also, i went to capetown for a week and stayed in obz (my first time thee in 7 years)
i loved it

now, heres some new images

war, big guns & a red sky 01

just havin' some fun in my new studio. been wanting to do a post apocalypse series for some time now. here's image number 01

image

face

a xenomorph chilling

first in a new series

so heres a little something from a new series ive started working on.
hope u all enjoy.

its me!

yea, yea, yea...i know, its a little vain, a little 'what the fuck? why is this bold ass taking pictures of himself?'
but its something of a tradition. every year i try and take at least one photo of myself. its partially to see how much i've changed with time and partially because im almost never in front of the cameras (being a photographer means that ur always the guys holding the camera.)
oh, and i wanted to show of my new tattoo. huuuuge thanx to richard from otherworld studios in P.E. it took us a while but we finally got that shit done. thanx buddy.
i'll try to get some more detailed pics of it up soon.
aaaaaand then, i just got my new camera today! will try and take some shots that have less texture over them so u guys and gals can all see the incredible detail this thing offers. seriously. the photos look sharper then real life.

new image for one day remains

not much new to say, been feeling kinda bummed lately...need to get out of town for a while and start working on all these little ideas i have.
on a more positive note, ive been asked to do some images for One Day Remains. im still working on all the details but here's one i finished off this afternoon. the theme is the four horsemen. this chap represents death.

enjoy

update.

nothing much new to say...going to jo'burg again soon, have to discuss some business with a old friend and hook up with mike and jo. oh, by the way, it looks like mike and jo might be heading to L.A early next year to do some work with a record label....and im going to go with. so thats pretty sweet.
while i start pondering how much sunscreen my pasty arse will need heres a new image for u guys and gals.

and as promised (in the post...um...underneath this one....here are some new images.

hehe, this is a concept cover for some friends i did. u have no idea how hard it is to destroy a city...i have a new found respect for evil villains.

time flies

as per usual, my brain has been wondering all over the place for the last couple of months. Thats not to say that i haven't been keeping busy...since my last post, heres whats been happening:
-i met my canadian cousin for the first time, we got along greatly and ended up going on a whole bunch of fuckin awesome roadtrips all over S.A including hogsback (my first time there, it rocked) and a trip to johannesburg ( i liked it so much i ended up staying for close to 3 months) next time im planning on taking a little trip up to her part of the world.
- in jo'burg i finally got to meet Jo and Mike. great people with a great attitude. since then we've been in close contact with various plans to take over the world onedesign / graphic / t-shirt / song at a time.
j & M, looking forward to seeing u guys again soon.
-4 of my friends have gotten married and 2 buddies have bought their first house. im starting to feel a bit old....
-dave wants me to go on a american cross country roadtrip
-mike wants me to go to italy
-my mom wants me to go for supper more often...
-ive started putting together a small but fast growing network of port elizabeth artists ( the mercury artists alliance) and hopefully we will be doing our first group exhibitions within the next months.
-on that note, ive been hard at work for the lat 2 months preparing for my first solo exhibition. this is something ive been wanting to do for donkey years. finally ive found the right printer and the right kind of paper to work with, so, end of this year expect to see my bald, bearded face hanging in p.e., g-town, jozzi and capetown.
-aaaaaaaand! after what feels like a lifetime, my tattoo is finally 100% finished. and it looks fantastic. it longer all together then it took my mother to give birth to me. preparing to do a new shoot and show it off as soon as my house isent so fuckin cold.
oh, and i threw p.e.'s first steampunk party... it was awesome. (pics or it didt happen? cool, here u go)