when she ran away to the circus

Erwin Olaf

Paradise Portraits 

Erwin Olaf's art creates huge visual impact. Below are a selection of images taken from his 'Paradise Portrait' series. The makeup on each face creates a completely unique character, each one different in its own way.  His work focus's on highly stylized imagery. These images demonstrate the power of expression and visual impact. This series which blends brilliantly Clowns portraits and portraits of women, mixing make-up, between taboos and social conventions. 

I feel the characters he has created appear to have a sense of insanity behind them. The character I create has escaped from a prison and murdered a family of children. In order for someone to do this I believe they would need to be affected by a mental disorder. 

________________________________________________

Corpse Paint 

Corpse paint or corpsepaint is a style of black-and-white makeup used mainly by black metal bands during live concerts and photo shoots. The makeup is used to make the musicians appear inhuman, corpse-like, or demonic. Corpse paint involves making the face and neck white and making the area around the eyes and lips black. Sometimes it is mixed with real or fake blood. Musicians will often have a 'trademark' style. 

This style of makeup takes influence from the classic clown face paint. It is clear the see the links between both. Clown makeup often focuses on making the eyes and mouth exaggerated and comic like. Corpse paint also days this, with a more dark and sinister twist to it.