Coreopsideae Rising

I met Nicolas Grey when we were both teenagers, along with others we spent time watching late night films at the cinema he worked in and listening to music. He was an incredible artist and co-produced Watermelon comic which drew on a combination of the psychedelic underground comics of the '60s and Nic's deep empathy for those individuals too raw and honest to fit in (think of the protagonists in the work of Fante or Bukowski). Through much of the subsequent two decades he has continued to work, and now has a website that showcases his talent. The attention to detail in is almost painful in its meticulous execution, while his subject matter is uniquely his own, drifting from images of saints and folk narratives through to crowded street scenes and portraits.

The above picture - A Portrait of Elizabeth Short - finds in brutal murder the beatification of the dead woman whose slaughter represents one of the most infamous of LA history. The crime is a cornerstone of LA gothic and most reading this should be familiar with both John Gilmore's account of the case and James Ellroy's novel which draws upon it.