PAINTINGS BY DEEDEE CHERIEL

I stumbled across Deedee Cheriel in a rather unfortunate manner - via the now defunct Fuck Off Shit Tattoos.

Originally the tattoo was posted to Fuck Yeah Tattoos, but a fairly large amount of these tattoos end up going straight on FOST. This is because almost a lot of the tattoos on FYT are poorly placed, text in mock 'handwriting' or just basically rubbish design/linework, but because of the Miami Ink style 'anything's good work as long as it has a soppy story behind it' ethos that some people seem to have. No disrespect to the artists on Miami Ink of course, and also a congrats to the genuinely well designed, clean tattoos on FYT. I honestly feel sorry for some of the artists approached to do this work, and for the people that end up with 'artwork' on them that looks like a four year old was let loose on their arm with a sharpie (though actually some of the work showcased on Fuck Off Shit Tattoos would have been executed far more successfully by a four year old with a sharpie).

However: the Deedee Cheriel tattoo was actually not on there for its poor execution or a rubbish design - just a design that wasn't translated fantastically into tattoo form. I was really intrigued by the design itself and went straight onto Cheriel's website, where I found a gallery of awesome, strange images. Their strange perspective, mix of flat and three dimensional looking imagery and bizarre people-animals with blocks of colour emerging from their mouths really appealed to me, kind of like a Klimt-esque dreamworld based on fairytales, full of crying trees and Blemmye-like Frankenstein creatures described by suspicious travellers - but with pretty dresses, dancing and sex. I'd love to know her inspiration! I particularly loved how certain animals are always featured in a particular pose, or with their heads facing a particular way (especially the bear), something continued from images of her work in her 2007 portfolio into works from later years, quite different in their execution but with a continuity between them.