Bizarre or trending subjects? Catch a break with our curiosity of the week. Denis Sheckler shares on his Instagram account his surreal collages reinventing the art of portraiture.
Moscow-based 24-year-old photographer Denis Sheckler, aka pills_for_skills on Instagram, started photography in 2012. Curious and self-taught, the artist quickly took an interest in Photoshop and its numerous editing tools. “We’re all constantly inundated with images, there is a common tendency, where even the most beautiful photographs with a variety of dialed parameters do not attract the proper attention, therefore it is necessary to invent something original, funky, and sometimes absurd things, which will make people look at the art of photography in a new way”, Denis Sheckler says. Though the author is not a professional artist, he spends most of his time creating strange collages, that are beautiful as they are scary.
“I get inspired by searching through pictures on stock photos websites and of course by scrolling through my Instagram feed”, the artist tells us. From his research, he keeps feminine models, wearing retro clothes and haircuts, that he cuts out, replaces and reconstructs with originality. While the silhouettes are still of women, the faces disappear, erased and replaced by surreal inspired collage – featuring planets, stars, and even mysterious mists. Colourful and nightmarish, Denis Sheckler’s pieces evoke the surreal canvas of Salvador Dalí, inspired by his craziest dreams. A quirky universe inhabited by chimeras. Many aesthetics experimentations transforming the art of portraiture.
© Denis Sheckler
