Salvador Dali remains one of the most complex and controversial figures within art history. His artistic mediums range from film-making, design, clothing and jewelry making, writing, even what he called an “erotic cookbook” which featured enticing recipes such as Thousand Year Old Eggs and Toffee with Pine Cones. Over the course of his lifelong career as an artist, he collaborated with other well-known figures such as Alfred Hitchcock, Alice Cooper and Walt Disney.

The common thread linking all of his artistic creations is the surreal and dream-like imagery that bends our perception of reality and presents the world through a lens of absurd, avant-garde and sometimes disturbing distortions. His paintings depict melting clocks, larger than life horses with exaggerated, giraffe-like legs, contorted faces hovering over vast, deserted landscapes, and daisies bursting out of cracked eggs.

S6 E2: Wonder & Light with Lauren Midgley

Lauren Midgley is a conceptual fine art photographer based in Oklahoma. Her photography stretches beyond the historical use of the camera and invites the viewer into a world of surrealism and visual storytelling. In a world saturated with digital imagery, Lauren employs illustrative, advanced digital manipulation to paint virtual narratives that speak to the heart of our collective human experience.

In this episode, Stephen and Lauren discuss her aims and motivations as an artist as well as the inception behind several specific portraits. To make it easier to you to follow along (with the visual nature of our discussion), we have posted the images mentioned in this episode on Instagram @makersandmystics.

This episode is sponsored by Ekstasis Magazine.

Music is provided by Paper Lights and C’est Lis.

Marie Teilhard is a concept photographer, literary artist, and public speaker. She holds a M.A. in Public Policy & Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.A. in Art History from the University of Chicago. She has also earned a Graduate Certificate in Science - Faith Apologetics from Hope International University.

In this Episode, Stephen and Marie discuss Surrealism, the artist Bjork and the use of unconventional symbols within Christian art. Marie gives a fabulous discourse on the difference between shock value and risk value.