Neurotica: The Darkest Art of J. K. Potter [Paperback]

J. K. Potter (Illustrator), Lydia Lunch (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

Combining art and photography, Potter creates stunning effects--an intensely dark and psychoogical vision that is as horrifying as it is beautiful. Fantasy, obsession and nightmare hold a strong place in Potter's art as he explores the relationship of the body to our deepest obsessions and fears. 110 full-color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A woman's belly becomes a mouth, protruding a tongue that becomes a shark. A toothy demon named Gropius manhandles a breast. Zoomorphic, liquescent distortions of naked human flesh. This is the world of J. K. Potter, whose eerie black-and-white photomontages have illustrated tales by H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Ramsey Campbell, Dennis Etchison and many other writers of the macabre. Neurotica is a gorgeous 128-page collection of the darkest of Potter's work, including several portraits of performance artist Lydia Lunch and a striking semi-nude/nude series of writer Poppy Z. Brite. Afterword by Potter describes his "low-tech garage artist" techniques.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Overlook TP; 1st edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879516879
• ISBN-13: 978-0879516871
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,744,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best photo illustrators around, February 16, 2003

By 

J. Hancock (indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Neurotica: The Darkest Art of J. K. Potter (Paperback)

Imaginative and captivating! J.K. Potter here has presented some of the best photo manipulations available. Some very nice darkroom and digital work. This book contains some of Potter's personal works as well as a nice selection of comercial work.

The book lay out is superb and photo comentaries humorous at times. The photos will reach out and grab you (Possibly ripping you limb from limb, but that is a bonus). You will either love this book or hate it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the beauty of the human form just became a lot darker, July 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Neurotica: The Darkest Art of J. K. Potter (Paperback)

When's the last time you ate a man... through your stomach? When's the last time you've seen an angel... in the nude? When's the last time you had a woman walk on your face... with her fingers? J.K. Potter has taken scenarios that are out of the ordinary and made them a helluva lot stranger and far far darker. Admired and posed for by Poppy Z. Brite, praised by Stephen King, Potter is the darkest entity in the art of photography, and it's all real, no computer editing, this is all darkroom work, which adds incredibly to the mystic of what Potter has become capable of doing. The conversation piece of the shadow lurkers, and the oddity and fetish of the average person, Neurotica embodies all that is horrific.

3.0 out of 5 stars Odd and Creative, June 4, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Neurotica: The Darkest Art of J. K. Potter (Paperback)

This book is very interesting. I was not at pleased with it as I expected, though. The photographer is creative and portrays some very interesting situations. Most of the book is in black and white. Many of the pictures are entirely too strange for my tastes. They have often been warped a little too much, rendering the images too busy and, in some cases, unrecognizable. The pictures are fascinating, but do not purchase this book unless you intend to view extreme modifications to photographs.