This Girl Just Flipped Feminine Beauty On Its Head. These Grotesque Photos Say It All.

I once read this quote that has stuck in my mind: “What some women do to themselves for beauty would be considered torture if done by one person to another.” Australian artist Jessica Ledwich seems to agree with that quote, judging by this art series of hers she named “The Ferocious – Monstrous Feminine.” In the series Jessica grotesquely re-imagines traditional feminine beauty routines. In one of the images, a woman has her fingers severed and replaced with the tools used for traditional manicures. See some of the images from the series here below:

Ledwich says she hopes her images will make viewers question the increasing normalization of beauty treatments that once seemed extreme.

I personally think what is really disturbing now is the way that the expectation of a women to engage in beauty treatments, procedures and cosmetic surgery, is so ingrained in our culture that we don’t even think twice about it. These procedures are almost so mainstream now that you book them to fit between your grocery shopping and your laundry. There are a whole generation of young women who not only think it is normal to do this but that its desirable and worse, expected.

Source: Jessica Ledwich Share these thought provoking pictures with your friends below.

Read more: http://viralnova.com/reimagining-female-beauty/

This Coloring Book Was Designed By Someone Who Had His Eyes Closed The Entire Time

A new trend in books has taken the world by storm, and it’s not what you would expect. No, it’s not another series like Harry Potter or The Hunger Games it’s something much more elementary. Welcome to the wonderful world of adult coloring books.

And one take on the trend has opened quite a few eyes in New York City. Artist Ian Sklarsky just developed a coloring book in collaboration with Yotel NYC by using a method called blind contouring. This process involves drawing with your eyes closed so that the only guide you have is the image in your mind.

Wanting to give visitors a unique experience, the team at Yotel NYC enlisted the help of artist Ian Sklarsky to create a coloring book that would entertain more mature guests.

Using a method called blind contouring, he filled the book with artful images that are anything but childish.

Instead of focusing on perfection, Sklarsky concentrated intently on the illustrations that he wanted to create and drew from what appeared in his mind.

That’s why blind contour artists draw with their eyes closed. Another interesting element of this technique is that creators don’t lift their pens or pencils from the paper until the piece is complete.

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“My art simply shows that there aren’t any wrongs,” Sklarsky explained. “It’s about the enjoyment of figuring out how to get from point A to point B without looking.”

The resulting coloring book is as intriguing as it is entertaining.

Each illustration is totally abstract, but the subjects are still recognizable.

Most of the scenes are familiar to people who love to travel.

There is a method to the madness, and Sklarsky loves unleashing his creative energy on projects like this.

This just goes to show you that there are so many innovative ways to create art. All you have to do is think outside the box.

To learn more about Ian Sklarsky’s work, check out his website. For regular updates, follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/blind-contouring/

These Artists Illustrate Sleep Disorders In A Way That We Can All Understand

Sleep disorders are fickle beasts. There are few things more infuriating than staring at the ceiling for hours on end with no choice but to watch the clock tick down into oblivion. As if trapped in a living nightmare, those who suffer from sleep issues know that they’ll be faced with the same problems every single night — and paired with this painful reality is the constant stress that comes along with realizing that no one will ever understand how you feel.

They’ll never understand what it’s like to dread bedtime, or how painful it is to go about daily life when you’re running on fumes. And that’s why the work that these artists are doing is so important. Through animation and illustration, Petra Svajger and Maja Poljanc explore the psychology of disrupted sleep in an eye-opening series called PARASOMNIAs.

Extending beyond insomnia, the two artists aim to present disorders that are incomprehensible to those on the outside in a more visceral way.

Thinking about the nature of sleep on a conceptual level is a pretty daunting (and often fruitless) endeavor. That’s why they’ve decided to create visual alternatives to these abstract ideas. In the image above — fittingly titled REM Sleep — we’re confronted with the dancing eyes and vulnerable bodies associated with a form of sleep that those with chronic disorders never get to experience.

Not everyone can identify with the sensation of stuffing a waking mind into a sleeping body, but we can all tap into the frozen terror we’d experience if all of those monsters under the bed came out of hiding.

In Sleep Paralysis, the artists illustrate the sensation of staring fear in the face while being trapped inside an immovable body.

The collection also recognizes sleep issues that often fly under the radar.

Sleep Eating illustrates one of the most bizarre disorders in the bunch. After all, you can’t brush your teeth after meals that you don’t remember eating.

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The animations attach familiar sensations to otherwise unfathomable conditions.

According to this piece called Restless Leg Syndrome, the disorder is akin to feeling the skin crawl on your perpetually moving legs. It really highlights the fact that RLS sufferers associate little to no relaxation with the thought of going to bed each night.

With simple illustrations, Svajger and Poljanc interpret sleep disorders in a way that’s at once plainly literal and completely inspired.

In the blink of an eye, Insomnia illustrates the draining sensation that comes with lying awake night after night in an endless cycle.

One of art’s many functions is to reinterpret phenomena from which we feel disconnected in everyday life, and that’s exactly what PARASOMNIAs does. It’s hard to consider the toll that sleep disorders take on sufferers if those conditions aren’t part of your reality. By attaching familiar imagery to concepts that might as well be floating out in the ether somewhere, it tethers each disorder closely enough to the ground to turn it into something recognizable.

To see more of their work, check out Petra Svajger’s website and Maja Poljanc’s Behance page. For regular updates, follow Svajger on Instagram.

Read more: http://www.viralnova.com/parasomnias/