Fred Einaudi’s Postcards From The Apocalypse
San Francisco-based artist Fred Einaudi has the sort of work that makes you do a double take. You’ll find yourself wondering what it is you’re actually seeing and whether you should laugh or cry.
The subject of death is most prevalent in Einaudi’s paintings. Though gas masks, skulls and children are commonly used symbols, seeing them depicted realistically and not in the exaggerated low brow style we’re used to, lends for a provocative experience. While I wouldn’t call this work “subtle”, it is difficult to gauge just how much humor Fred tries to inject into his paintings. Whether we see a young boy poking a woman’s floating corpse with a stick, Leda getting it from her swan, or a mechanical girl hungry for canary flesh, the intent, the artist’s voice, is subdued. Fred Einaudi’s realistic, dry execution reminds me of public service announcements from a post-nuclear word.
More images after the jump for you!
October 24th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Good God, these are brilliant…and surprisingly, pretty moving.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Mm, yes! I think the deadpan presentation makes these all the more real. At least that’s how it’s affecting me.
October 24th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
Mermaid and Chocolate donut are funny .
i find Humunculus to be a, little horrific, precious momment. A sort of meeting of someone you’ll never come to know .
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Overall these images are beautyful and wonderful to look at.
*edit* “Leda and the Swan”?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! oh my…(+,+)
October 24th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Absolutely beautiful…necropolis, extinction and holywar really get me…and tulips makes me smile.
What a lovely mesh of ideas.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Ah, yes, the perfect bedtime post…!
October 25th, 2008 at 11:03 am
*Wow* Thanks so much for posting these Zo! Amazing work!
October 25th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Whoa, love.
October 25th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
These are fantastic. And, I imagine, very work intensive. I think Necropolis is my favourite. Thanks for posting this!
October 26th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
They’re all wonderfully twisted, but “leda and the swan” is, uh, out there.
October 26th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
@copyranter – right? And just when I thought this Leda was risque, heh.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I have become completely addicted to coilhouse in the weeks since I’ve discovered it (in a sinister, macabre, yet enjoyable way, of course). And fabulous eye candy like this is exactly why! Thank you for running a wonderful blog/mag.
December 5th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Love them…Leda is my fav, tho can’t stop staring at all the others.