Charlotte Kemp Muhl Instagram – I collected these vintage kimonos while working in Japan at 16. They’re gossamery and flimsy as spider silk, made in the early 1910s, adding a rare splash of color (beetle wing greens and crepuscular purples) to my closet.
The Masonic robes I found in the coffers at my favorite Victorian estate sale in Manhattan, Ritual.
So when Greg contacted me about shooting some Aleister Crowley meets Klimt shots in a skateboard park, I retorted “yes duh.”
(Fittingly, Greg gave me The Alchemist to read when I was a homeless street urchin, and taught me my first E minor chord on guitar; the basis of all spooky rock).
Having spent a lot of time staring slack jawed at the pages of Art Nouveau and Weimar Republic books, Klimt was also one of my favorite painters (though I prefer Egon Schiele, the poorer Austrian, for his scrawny models and decrepit sunflowers that resembled syphilitic lions.)
Klimt’s most infamous mural, the Beethoven Frieze, is a perfect Venn diagram of mythos, beauty and morbidity. Typhoeus the giant looms over his nubile daughters, the three Gorgons, who represent lust, intemperance and longing. Above them are leering faces of plague and influenza, also prevalent in Viennese society.
Their explicit black pubic hair was a scandal at the time (unfortunately I was clean shaven for this shoot but should have brought a merkin.)
In all, it lures you in with sensuality then forces you to contend with evil forces, both internal and external. This is an aesthetic and spiritual puzzle I can get behind.
@gregkadelstudios
@hauntedmag
…Headdresses made from beer cans, newspapers and yarn by my favorite outsider artist for hair- @dennislanni
Makeup by the ever graceful @devrakinery | Posted on 09/Jul/2023 03:57:31
