aka The Nefarious Dr. Ellliot
Darren Minke is a Visual Alchemist, working with several different mediums to bring his visions to life. His current digital artwork uses photography that is painstakingly collaged together to create rich and vibrant imagery, that looks more like painting than computer generated graphics. His stained wood series uses the natural grain of wood panels to determine the images used in the artwork. He uses overlapping layers of wood stain that is rubbed into the wood to give the final artwork the appearance of polished wood that contains images within.
Darren likes to combine images of the human body, with patterns and forms from the natural world. His work explores the boundaries between opposing metaphors, archetypes, religious and spiritual beliefs in an attempt to create new stories from the mixture of symbols.
Darren’s images also reflect the influence of his experiences with altered states, from meditation to psychedelic and shamanistic voyages. He attempts to capture the essence of these experiences and utilize the imagery of ancient and tribal artwork, which he believes share the influence of such journeys.
Most of his work has a strong feminine character, and he strives to break the stereotypes of gender and resurrect the idea of the divine feminine, in a society and belief system that is strongly patriarchal. Through the anthropomorphization of the natural world, he is also exploring man’s association with nature and his effects upon his own environment.
