Art imitates life but within the last couple of decades some would argue those rolls have been reversed. Movies, television and video games all seem to have transmuted our surroundings and the misfortunes that envelop them. We live with personal demons and learning to exercise them is quintessential in keeping three-quarters of the population under lock and key without actually closing the cell door. James R. Barnhard has a passion for liberating the grotesque virtually and its here he's found deliverance in letting his soul bleed. His lines are carved with the precision of a surgeon's blade while his imagination twists the work as far as the minds eye can reach. Unlike a back street butcher, true madmen aren't mad at all but know the well of woe from which they pull, thus divinity and damnation walk a fine line. Remember the next time you marvel at the work of Van Gogh that he cut his ear off during a fit of passion.

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• ArtWanted.com Gallery:    Illustration