Potter, innovative fantasy photographer, darkroom alchemist and airbrush artist, is the illustrator of over 30 books and hundreds of mass market book covers. Using many tools developed in the 1930s and before, J.K prefers the use of low tech methods of hand printed, hand colored black and white photography to the use of modern computers for creating his bizarre images. His motto is "just because it doesn't exist doesn't mean it can't be photographed." He photographs his own source materials and delights in using his friends as models in his eerily beautiful and often disturbing pictures.
A spiritual descendent of such surrealist artists as Man Ray and Hans Bellmer, J.K. Potter is one of the most talented and disturbing fantasy and horror artists of our time. Combining art and photography, he creates stunning images with an intensely dark psychological vision that is as horrifying as it is beautiful.
Fantasy, nightmares and madness hold a strong place in Potter's art as he explores the relationship of the body to our deepest obsessions and fears. 'Erotic distillations of human and animal physique' and 'interior deformities that manifest themselves in the exterior flesh' are major themes for J.K. Potter, who rearranges human form - sometimes morphing it with things animal, vegetable or mineral - to suit his unrivaled imagination.
In addition to creating stunning illustrations for the fiction of J.G. Ballard, Ray Bradbury, Stephen King, Poppy Z. Brite, Lucius Shepard, Ramsey Campbell, Clive Barker and others, J.K.'s designs have also appeared in the Randal Kleiser film Shadow Of Doubt, Brian Yuzna's Necronomicon: Book Of The Dead and a forthcoming HBO Films production as yet to be titled.
The first book anthology of J.K. Potter's work is entitled HORRIPILATIONS, which is a term for goose pimples or the bristling of hair from effects of terror, a not uncommon occurance when viewing Potter's art. HORRIPILATIONS, introduced by master of horror Stephen King, was released in the U.S. in the fall of 1995 by the Overlook Press.
A two-time winner of the World Fantasy Award, J.K. Potter lives in rural Massachusetts.
Gropius, 1993
EVIL TWIN, 1986
( mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
This photograph was originally intended as a joke for the model, a friend who often got himself in trouble. Eventually chosen as a cover for a World Fantasy Convention, it is known as one of Potter's most memorable images.
BAT OF THE MONTH, 1991
( mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
For many years part of Potter's private collection, this image eventually turned up in Mondo 2000 for an interview with Lydia Lunch (it's not her). It also appeared in a Ray Garton book as a satire of men's magazine fold-outs, The New Neighbor.
NAKED LUNCH, 1992
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
a portrait of Lydia Lunch, published in Mondo 2000 magazine. The work illustrates a critic's description of Lunch as "a symphony of contradictions."
THE INCUBUS, 1992
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
One of the major themes that Potter addresses in his work is a visual exploration of psychological mutations as they manifest themselves on the external flesh. Potter's work is chilling not only for its photo-realism but for its visual representation of psychological themes. This female counterpart is "THE SUCCUBUS"
THE SUCCUBUS, 1993
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
This is the female couterpart to "THE INCUBUS". Here the model, Katrina, is morphed with the skull of an alligator gar. The morph was arrived at by free association with the original photographs of Katrina.
COLD PRINT, 1993
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
Potter's most copied image. Today it can be found on everything from skateboards to clothing. It's original use was as an illustration for Ramsey Campbell's Alone with the Horrors.
ROOTED, 1993
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
A private work from a series of transformations, resulting from a great photo session with this model. When asked by Potter where she learned to pose so well, she suprised him by replying that she had acquired her great skill from reading books. The other component of the image is a crepe myrtle tree, found in Louisiana and known for its flowers. Potter, however, chooses to use the tree for its bark and roots and their flesh-like texture.
LASHER, 1994
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
SOUL EFFIGY, 1994
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
MOUTH OF THE MAN SHARK, 1994
(mixed media on photograph, 20 x 16")
POPPY Z BRITE