Photographer Jeffrey Silverthorne takes beautiful, quiet photos of disquieting subject matter. His early works included two series on morgues and transvestites. [nsfw, via]
posted by grapefruitmoon on Jan 6, 2009 - 14 comments

What does a man do during the last 20 years of his life? We learn what every day was like for this unnamed soul who lived through the death of John Lennon, was there for the biggest television experience ever and who saw many presidents inaugurated and witnessed some of them shot.
It might have been because of the holidays or just to fit in but sometime around the early 80's he began smoking. Throught the 90's his health declined and eventually the illness took over.
What must we think about the Star Trek fan with a surreal taste for art and who loved pasta? I'm not sure, but I am certainly thankful for the images.
posted by MikeonTV on May 21, 2008 - 68 comments

Robert Rauschenberg (previously), painter, sculptor, perfomance artist, printmaker, photographer, theater designer, technologist, dead at 82. [more inside]
posted by krautland on May 13, 2008 - 59 comments

Kathe Kollwitz, printmaker and sculptor, on The Peasants War (historical background, prints), war and death, mothers and children, herself and the death of her son Peter in WWI.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Jan 2, 2008 - 11 comments

Morbid Anatomy - an excellent blog with a focus on art, medicine, death, and culture. Great viewing anytime, but it might also be a good reference source for any macabre seasonal celebrations!
posted by madamjujujive on Oct 8, 2007 - 5 comments

"A paper around her neck said she was Ida, but Ida said nothing at all." So tells the story of the saddest, unluckiest girl that ever lived. [more inside]
posted by ZachsMind on Sep 6, 2007 - 17 comments

US federal income taxes at work. A 2007 version is now available. [previously]
posted by tellurian on Sep 17, 2006 - 37 comments

Maurice Agis is the creator of Dreamspace, a magical walk-through environment of color and light that has been enjoyed by thousands of people. It might be good to remember, though, that art can occasionally kill people.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jul 23, 2006 - 17 comments

Tim Hildebrandt, half of the Brothers Hildebrandt artwork team, died yesterday due to complications from diabetes.
posted by WolfDaddy on Jun 12, 2006 - 28 comments

In Memoriam and in Protest --why not use an online deathmatch as a pedestal for speaking out against a war? Artist/Professor uses US Govt-developed America's Army (...placing Soldiering front and center within popular culture and showcasing the roles training, teamwork and technology play in the Army. ... ) as protest and art space. DeLappe's homepage (and jpgs) here
posted by amberglow on May 30, 2006 - 135 comments

"To all our sisters who have committed suicide or who have been institutionalized for their rebellion."
Throughout her career, but especially in her latest and most wrenching work— Sisters, Saints, & Sibyls, the 39-minute three-screen lamentation that is a duel memoir of her sister's suicide at the age of 19 and her own mortifications of the flesh and battles with addiction—the photographer Nan Goldin has been one of the great living suicides of recent art history... Charles Baxter wrote that novelist Malcolm Lowry captured "the way things radiate just before they turn to ash." At her best Goldin does this too.
posted by matteo on Apr 7, 2006 - 10 comments

17 Minutes is a performance and video blog project by new media artist Chris Barr. It's about suicide. [MI]
posted by sjvilla79 on Nov 22, 2005 - 7 comments

Gallery of funeral art. On this halloween weekend, a brief collection of photographs of tombstone carvings & other cemetary decorations.
posted by jonson on Oct 29, 2005 - 6 comments

"If time has to end, it can be described, instant by instant," Mr. Palomar thinks, "and each instant, when described, expands so that its end can no longer be seen." He decides that he will set himself to describing every instant of his life, and until he has described them all he will no longer think of being dead. At that moment he dies.
In memoriam of Italo Calvino, who died exactly 20 years ago.
"Calvino's novels" by his friend Gore Vidal. Calvino's obituary by Vidal, il maestro William Weaver's essay on Calvino's cities, Jeanette Winterson on Calvino's dream of being invisible, and Stefano Franchi's philosophical study on Palomar's doctrine of the void. More inside.
posted by matteo on Sep 18, 2005 - 18 comments

Want to get buried in a fish, an airplane, or car? A visit with Ghana's fantasy coffin manufacturers just might help you achieve your dreams for death. Check out the pictures.
posted by drezdn on Jan 29, 2005 - 11 comments

Death Masks (Keats, Newton, Etc.)
posted by gwint on Aug 31, 2004 - 16 comments

The Dance of Death. Die Totentanz: A German-language site spotlighting, for example, the dance of death in literature, graphic art, music and film. For those, like me, whose German is not so good, this page offers an English-language history of the phenomenon, and the Catholic Encyclopedia has an article too. See also Holbein's Dance-of-Death; Lübeck's Dance-of-Death; and umm, this.
posted by misteraitch on Jul 3, 2003 - 14 comments

Death photography Since Good Friday is pretty much all about death, how about a look at memento mori, otherwise known as postmortem photography? Some are heartrending, and many are quite artistic. Of course, there's an ugly side to this, too.
posted by LittleMissCranky on Apr 18, 2003 - 11 comments

Even unto the grave, still the little LEGOmen smile. [Flash]
posted by Pretty_Generic on Dec 16, 2002 - 14 comments

African fantasy coffins are produced by the Ga and other tribes of the Ghana coast to confer the status of travel and luxury goods upon the deceased. The coffins themselves are incredibly detailed works of art that range from miniature Mercedes automobiles and cellphones to giant fish and Coke cans. What would you like to be buried in?
posted by MrBaliHai on Dec 29, 2001 - 13 comments

Prepare To Die. Bill Drummond, half of the KLF and burner of a million quid, has a new project. Apparently he was concerned that some of the funerals he had attended were not what the deceased would have wanted. Make sure you don't have the same problem.
posted by dodgygeezer on Jun 27, 2000 - 2 comments