Your Worst Nightmares
October 13, 2018 1:18 PM Subscribe
Imagine someone sneaked into your bedroom when you were asleep, peeled back your eyelids and scooped out your very worst nightmares then turned them all into sculptures. Well, that’s kinda like what Mexican artist Emil Melmoth [NSFW] has achieved with his gruesome, morbid, yet strangely compelling sculptures of deformed creatures and unnamed things that dwell in the night—he has made the terrors of darkness visible. [NSFW]
Usually I find the creepiest creations to be unintentional. Melmoth seems to be an exception.
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:01 PM on October 13, 2018
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:01 PM on October 13, 2018
I'm going to use this opportunity to say that it's pronounced " GHEE-gər", not "Guy-gur".
Also, these sculptures look like they need a hug.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 2:11 PM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Also, these sculptures look like they need a hug.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 2:11 PM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I saw "Johnny Wallflower" and clicked for the pictures of kittens and puppies
posted by colin.jaquiery at 4:01 PM on October 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by colin.jaquiery at 4:01 PM on October 13, 2018 [14 favorites]
2/10, good Joel-Peter Witkin ripoff with same weaknesses, conflation of "macabre and nightmarish" with "physical deformities". Boring. Technically proficient but pretty boring.
posted by nixon's meatloaf at 4:18 PM on October 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by nixon's meatloaf at 4:18 PM on October 13, 2018 [8 favorites]
So it’s mostly body horror then?
I think a sculpture of the few dozen people responsible for turning the planet into a nascent runaway hothouse Venus would be five or six orders of magnitude more terrifying.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:28 PM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I think a sculpture of the few dozen people responsible for turning the planet into a nascent runaway hothouse Venus would be five or six orders of magnitude more terrifying.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:28 PM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I saw "Johnny Wallflower" and clicked for the pictures of kittens and puppies
To be fair, there are puppies...
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:45 PM on October 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
To be fair, there are puppies...
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:45 PM on October 13, 2018 [6 favorites]
Take one of these, make it a gif animation where it's twitching, and you've got a Tool video.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:50 PM on October 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 4:50 PM on October 13, 2018 [15 favorites]
I saw "Johnny Wallflower" and clicked for the pictures of kittens and puppies
Yeah, that's dicey in October.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:09 PM on October 13, 2018
Yeah, that's dicey in October.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:09 PM on October 13, 2018
If you like this and are ever in Philadelphia, stop by the Mütter Museum. It looks like this stuff, but it's all real.
posted by cashman at 6:17 PM on October 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by cashman at 6:17 PM on October 13, 2018 [7 favorites]
The Mütter Museum made me so sad. It was fascinating, and I'm glad that I went. But the sheer volume of suffering represented there was very hard to process.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:23 PM on October 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 6:23 PM on October 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
My nightmares are normal people being incredibly clinical and callous so these were not bad really.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:32 PM on October 13, 2018
posted by St. Peepsburg at 6:32 PM on October 13, 2018
Stuff of nightmares creature, for me, is the FISH with the giant EYES who can SEE YOUR THOUGHTS if you TALK ABOUT IT.
I hated aquarium fish for a long time after that one.
Or the giant pumpkin vine that eats people, that you can still see no matter how tightly you close your eyes.
My nightmares are mostly creatureless, these days. I sort of miss the simple innocence of monster nightmares.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:35 PM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I hated aquarium fish for a long time after that one.
Or the giant pumpkin vine that eats people, that you can still see no matter how tightly you close your eyes.
My nightmares are mostly creatureless, these days. I sort of miss the simple innocence of monster nightmares.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 7:35 PM on October 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
These are cute compared to my nightmares of Cruz, Trump and Kavanaugh.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:01 PM on October 13, 2018
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:01 PM on October 13, 2018
Lovely, and very reminiscent of Polish artist Zdzisław Beksiński.
posted by migurski at 9:05 PM on October 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by migurski at 9:05 PM on October 13, 2018 [4 favorites]
New Dark Souls designs?
posted by Scattercat at 9:18 PM on October 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Scattercat at 9:18 PM on October 13, 2018 [1 favorite]
Imagine someone sneaked into your bedroom when you were asleep, peeled back your eyelids and scooped out your very worst nightmares
Well now I have a new nightmare thank you very much
posted by duffell at 3:04 AM on October 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Well now I have a new nightmare thank you very much
posted by duffell at 3:04 AM on October 14, 2018 [4 favorites]
Anatomic 'monstrosities' they are, but saying they are 'nightmarish visions' is very subjective...
posted by Faintdreams at 3:25 AM on October 14, 2018
posted by Faintdreams at 3:25 AM on October 14, 2018
He clearly found his “blue dog,” with all the repetitions of imagery - reversed skulls anyone?
posted by njohnson23 at 9:03 AM on October 14, 2018
posted by njohnson23 at 9:03 AM on October 14, 2018
Yeah monsters would almost be refreshing nightmare-fare. I would happily swap a good old monster dream for my anxiety dreams that are all variations on a travel theme: packing everything including surfboards and the kitchen sink into small bags when the flight leaves in half an hour and I am inexplicably naked (obviously one can't wear the surfboard); endless trips through labyrinthine airports to pick up lost passports, tickets and other Important Documents that are held for me by faceless bureaucrats; etc. I would definitely swap a monster dream for the distressing new tendency to dream about myself or the people I love being slowly and creatively raped, murdered, and so forth - especially the ones where I am somehow complicit.
Mostly I would like to offer his artistic creations some pliers with which to remove the nails from their nipples, nice comforting fluffy cardigans, a good book - audiobook for the armless - and (depending on the state of their alimentary canal) a nice cup of tea.
posted by Athanassiel at 6:04 PM on October 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
Mostly I would like to offer his artistic creations some pliers with which to remove the nails from their nipples, nice comforting fluffy cardigans, a good book - audiobook for the armless - and (depending on the state of their alimentary canal) a nice cup of tea.
posted by Athanassiel at 6:04 PM on October 14, 2018 [2 favorites]
OK. Nightmares. I'm going to go there tonight.
So, as I've mentioned around these parts a few times before, I have permanent nerve damage, which definitely messes with quality of life. Surgical solutions are off the table for reasons, so my neurologist and I have been working on combinations of various pharmaceutical solutions for the last decade, to wildly uneven results.
Now, keep in mind that the primary thing that all of these drugs do is they mess with your brain chemistry. Over the years, even the most successful of these drugs have seriously altered my normal dreamscapes. The one that I have continued to take gives me bad nightmares if I miss a dose. But it helps the pain and the nightmares are tolerable and I try not to miss a dose.
The three worst, though... Not so tolerable.
In order:
1) One drug consistently made me dream that I was delusional, psychotic, paranoid, and very, very violent. I woke up scared of myself. I stopped taking this drug.
2) One drug made my dreams incomprehensible. Sounds, shapes, colors, activities. Nothing ever made sense or fit into a human context. It was absolutely terrifying. Even worse than number 1, above. In number 1, I dreamed that I was insane. In number 2, I fell asleep, I went insane and then I dreamed. I stopped taking this drug.
3) One drug made me feel like I was dreaming while I was awake. I felt like I was losing myself for real. I stopped taking this drug.
Normal nightmares just don't get the adrenaline rushing the way they used to anymore. Because at some level, I think I understand, even while I'm dreaming, that at least these dreams aren't completely rewiring my brain and locking me into a permanent nightmare prison.
Happy Halloween!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:58 PM on October 14, 2018 [7 favorites]
So, as I've mentioned around these parts a few times before, I have permanent nerve damage, which definitely messes with quality of life. Surgical solutions are off the table for reasons, so my neurologist and I have been working on combinations of various pharmaceutical solutions for the last decade, to wildly uneven results.
Now, keep in mind that the primary thing that all of these drugs do is they mess with your brain chemistry. Over the years, even the most successful of these drugs have seriously altered my normal dreamscapes. The one that I have continued to take gives me bad nightmares if I miss a dose. But it helps the pain and the nightmares are tolerable and I try not to miss a dose.
The three worst, though... Not so tolerable.
In order:
1) One drug consistently made me dream that I was delusional, psychotic, paranoid, and very, very violent. I woke up scared of myself. I stopped taking this drug.
2) One drug made my dreams incomprehensible. Sounds, shapes, colors, activities. Nothing ever made sense or fit into a human context. It was absolutely terrifying. Even worse than number 1, above. In number 1, I dreamed that I was insane. In number 2, I fell asleep, I went insane and then I dreamed. I stopped taking this drug.
3) One drug made me feel like I was dreaming while I was awake. I felt like I was losing myself for real. I stopped taking this drug.
Normal nightmares just don't get the adrenaline rushing the way they used to anymore. Because at some level, I think I understand, even while I'm dreaming, that at least these dreams aren't completely rewiring my brain and locking me into a permanent nightmare prison.
Happy Halloween!
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:58 PM on October 14, 2018 [7 favorites]
Whoa. You win the thread.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:50 PM on October 14, 2018
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:50 PM on October 14, 2018
who are you and what have you done with the Johnny Wallflower who used to post amusing animal anecdotes YOU MONSTER
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:39 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:39 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
ugh this will teach me to comment before reading the thread. In my defense, J-W has also been posting horrors on facebook so it's like I can't escape them no matter where I go on the internet
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:43 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by tivalasvegas at 5:43 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
You are welcome.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:24 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 7:24 PM on October 15, 2018 [1 favorite]
who are you and what have you done with the Johnny Wallflower
There exists the Nega-Wallflower, who delights in the dark and monster plus. You need to check for the goatee. Or the head of a goat.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:30 AM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
There exists the Nega-Wallflower, who delights in the dark and monster plus. You need to check for the goatee. Or the head of a goat.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:30 AM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love them!
posted by h00py at 7:17 AM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by h00py at 7:17 AM on October 16, 2018 [1 favorite]
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I guess everyone's different.
posted by humboldt32 at 1:25 PM on October 13, 2018 [29 favorites]