Panel: The Art of Cosmic Horror
Cosmic horror is all about leaving many things to the imagination. So how to visual artists capture the unthinkable? Join these illustrators, printmakers, puppeteers, filmmakers, and drag performers to hear more. With Theoddra Monstar (M), Aunt Gore, Liv Rainey-Smith, Nick Gucker
Theoddra Monstar is a creative weirdo who enjoys bringing smiles to people faces through bizarre puppets and music. They are also the creator of The Subterrestrial Society comic, and the co-creator of Trash People from the Dump Productions with their partner Lora Friess (Aunt Gore). You can find them on YouTube at youtube.com/trashpeople and on their other socials @theomonstar
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Lora Friess (Aunt Gore) is a fashion driven artist who enjoys the silly and the macabre. She is co-creator of Trash People from the Dump Productions with her partner Theo “Monstar” Friess and the creator of Horror Movie Cocktails with Aunt Gore on their YouTube channel youtube.com/trashpeople and you can also follow her on her other socials @auntgore
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Liv Rainey-Smith's original art is created through xylography, the practice of carving and printing wood. Rainey-Smith draws upon both European and Japanese techniques to create her work and favors working with natural materials as much as possible. She finds inspiration in early European prints, esoteric traditions, folklore, weird fiction, and the natural world. She won the World Fantasy Award for Best Artist in 2025. Rainey-Smith's woodcut art illustrates The Starry Wisdom Library Catalogue of the Greatest Occult Book Auction of All Time, and accompanies her story in The Dagon Collection.
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When not occupied whispering to insects and cataloging esoteric ephemera, Nick Gucker is typically perched at his art table conjuring up nightmare visions and freakish delights out of ink, charcoal and acrylic media. His art has frequently appeared in the pages of Strange Aeons Magazine, The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction, Dark Discoveries and online publications including theLovecraft eZine. His illustrations embellished the innards of works by authors Cody Goodfellow, David Conyers and a few projects with Spectral Press in the UK. His paintings have been used for covers of books from Blysster Press, Sinister Grin, and others. Nick was the winner of the 2012 Pickman’s Apprentice Iron Artist challenge at the HP Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland and has had the honor of creating multiple pieces of artwork for the HP Lovecraft Film Festival posters and T-shirts. Nick has also designed images for Skurvy Ink T-Shirts, honoring the works of various genre authors. Nick was featured in a gallery group show in Ketchikan, AK in Oct. of 2012 and his Lovecraftian pieces were on display in the Providence, RI Art Club in conjunction with NecronomiCon 2013. Recent gallery appearances include group shows at Krab Jab Studio and Cloud Gallery in Seattle curated by Yvette Endrijautzki. In addition to his published work, Nick’s unique, one-of-a-kind custom commission pieces grace the walls and limbs of various and sundry patrons of the arts from near and far.
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