ABOUT THE ARTISTS

SEAN PLATTER considers himself a victorian in a digital world.
Seans fascination with ornament and past design forms can be traced back to the grand victorian homes of his youth. The overabundance of detail and sense of fantasy appealed to Sean like nothing else. Over time, this fascination lead to an appreciation for outlandish excess, the exotic , the erotic, and all things macabre.

Sean received a degree in graphic design at a midwestern collage and moved to Los Angeles in 1984. He has had many interesting jobs including manually pasting phone numbers in the local phone book, advertising for gay papers and illustrations for In Touch and Indulge for every month from 1984 thru 2005. Sean was also an animator at Filmation studios working on He-man and She-Ra. Sean continues to work as a professional animator.

Sean lists his influences as- Harry Bush, Simon Bisley, The Symbolists, The Orientalists. Hindu devotional art from India, Byzantine art and Medieval illuminated manuscripts.

Sean is the creator of a twisted graphic novel called DEMONICSEX: satanic tales of transformation and possession. The second volume will be released on All Hallows Eve at Antebellum gallery!

TONY "LEWD" LABADIE says "It all started with strange dreams of lizard-men and alien atmospheres". Lewd, says he has always had a passion for art in every form, be it film, books, comics, photography, architecture, culture, even food has inspired and given Lewd motivation to create.

Character illustration and the male body have been the primary focus of lewds art and experimentation. Lewd sees the male body as a frame of power and lust, hard, feral, and arousing, causes him to bring forth wildly exotic fantasy that hes dreamt. Lewd says, this gives my characters bizarre, or monstrous characteristics and stimulates more mystery and curiosity, making experimentation with sex much more fulfilling and enjoyable.

Monsters, demons, aliens, and other famous creatures such as the Predator reveal their erotic potential and become objects of lust & desire are depicted in Lewds artwork.

DON SABAN is a native of Phoenix ,AZ, he received his formal training at Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara, and was simultaneously a prote of professor William A. Rohrbach, University of California Santa Barbara, who studied with classic photographer Minor White at Berkley in the 1950?s.

Sabin has been a member of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art Photography Committee. During his tenure in Santa Barbara, he was one of the first photographers to be in Art Life magazine, and also on the cover.

After moving to Los Angeles, Saban taught at Otis/Parsons and continued his photographic work which has been published in numerous magazines.
Don Saban was commissioned by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art to do photography for the book : Standing in the Tempest: Painters of the Hungarian Avant-Garde.

Sabans current work is experimentation with digital images working with color and design that at once becomes spiritual, celestial and mythical.

Don Saban says, I've always wanted to do more with photography than what was possible when I first started out. With the advent of digital cameras and new technology I can now realize what I've always dreamt of doing This new body of work embraces the old with the new, starting with an image made by a digital camera (which still uses a glass lens, shutter and f/stops like a traditional camera) and traditional studio lights.
In essence the image becomes somewhat of a blank canvas for me to explore the possibilities. The digital lab has replaced the limitations of the darkroom, allowing me to accomplish my artistic vision and goals. Ultimately images are wonderful to look at, and what one takes away from them is up to the individual.

PAMELA JOSEPH says her work often starts with separate parts that come together over time to make a complete statement.

Pamela has a long-standing interest in women and their place in contemporary society, their power or lack of it, and their relationship to the world around them. Over the past few years, Pamela's work has also explored different religious issues, especially the Madonna. The Virgin Mary has been an intense attraction for Pamela, who was raised as a Catholic. The Virgin was the ultimate symbol of feminine perfection.

Pamela bought the kneeler about three years ago, drawn to its textures and sense of history. At the time she had no idea how it would manifest in an artwork.

Pamela then painted the Pussy Madonna image in 2003 while she was a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. It was there that Pamela became especially aware of the sympathetic juxtaposition of the sacred and the profane: erotic scrims on buildings would be backdrops for provocative Bernini sculptures, or a Virgin Shrine enclosed in neon would be next to a suggestive movie poster.

Pussy Marshmallow is Pamela's alter ego, a woman who audaciously dares to break the rules in the game of the sexes. Here she is reborn as the Savior Christ child, resting in the arms of the Virgin Mary while winged fairies soar and the putanesca burns in hell.

Pamela has worked with KUROSH VALANEJAD on a wide range of projects from 1992. Kurosh suggested turning the Pussy painting into a 3-D stereoscopic light projection and executed the separation of layers and designed the light box. Pamela and Kurosh then engage in dialogue to further develop the piece.

The intricate mirror box was fabricated based on similar historic contraptions. Pamela's has been fascinated with the idea of the phrase "They did it with mirrors," the conflict and the indecision of what is real or merely illusion.

The Kneeler becomes a complete environment with the addition of the text, which is based on Pamela's personal experiences and memories. The words are a dialogue between the supposedly different personas of the Madonna and the whore in a conversation with a paternal figure. Sound artist Liliana Mejia took my words and wove them into a complex overlay of voices, much like a supportive Greek chorus. She has composed a score that interacts with other elements such as fire, wings and music. The refusal to be judged now extends into the collective realm and is not just an individual effort.

The image of kneeling is one of surrendering pride and admitting ones sins. Instead, this humbling act becomes a defiant stance in the face of rigid and perfectionist views.

ERIC OCTOBER was born and raised in the Central Valley and then transplanted to Southern California.

After receiving a BA in Fine Art at UCLA he has pursued various media to express his artistic ideas, including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, and mixed media/assemblage.

Reoccurring themes in his work include examining the ways the male body is represented and specifically how the male body is presented to gay men.
Currently, in addition to painting, Eric is focusing on animation as his next artistic frontier to explore.

After high school (gymnasium) Giger went on to study architecture and industrial design at Zurich's School of Applied Arts. He soon expanded his network of friends to include those in involved in various aspects of the arts, and began drawing creatively.

In 1966 Giger began work as an interior designer, and at the same time, completed some early paintings. In 1968 Giger began working exclusively as an artist, as well as filmmaker. Giger has his first posters published in 1969 and also has some of his first exhibitions outside of Zurich.

Giger begins using the airbrush in the next decade, and his works take on a unique otherworldly quality. He grows to be considered the leading airbrush artist in the world and proved that fine art could be produced via the device. Working in large formats, Giger's paintings are meticulously rendered and possess a blend of erotic mystery and alien elegance.

In 1978 Giger began work on the film ALIEN, and ended up sculpting much of the creatures and sets. In 1980 the artist is awarded an Oscar for his stunning work on the classic film.

Giger began work on The H.R. Giger Museum in the middle 1990s and this continues today, as the medieval castle in Gruyere, Switzerland is being continually expanded. The museum houses Giger's personal collection of art from around the world, as well as a substantial collection of his own paintings and sculptural work.

RICK OWENS was born and raised in Porterville California. Rick then studied art at Parsons in Los Angeles before opting instead to take a two-year course on pattern-making. He then spent a number of years cutting patterns for knock-off and sportswear companies, before embarking on his own label. A strong reputation and following both consumer and retailled him to the attention of a group of Italian manufacturers, with whom he is now partners in his ever-growing company OwensCorp. Rick designs his own clothing lines called Rick Owens, DKSHWDS and Lilies. Owens is also Artistic Director for Revillon, the French fur brand founded in 1723. Owens won the CFDA Perry Ellis Award for Emerging Talent in 2002. Rick?s designs for many celebrities including Courtney Love, Madonna, Helena Bonham Carter and his longtime muse, Michele Lamy.

Ricks videoinstillation documents the creating of his fashion shoot with paraplegic, transvestite model, The Goddess Bunny, who is a celebrity in her own right modeling for art photographers Joel-Peter Witkin and Rick Castro, and touring with Marilyn Manson.