Joe Roberts' Uploads

As a child of the 70s, I have very fond memories of sitting on the floor in front of our little colour TV, and watching and adoring Lynda Carter bounce around, kicking ass and fighting crime. I’ve always loved Wonder Woman, and I'm fascinated by the myriad ways she’s been imagined and re-imagined over the years. For mine I focused on her dualism – the goddess beauty vs warrior strength, combined with the colour and curves of my childhood. In terms of the art, I thought it would be fun to allude to classicism for the subjects association with Greek mythology and form, and balletic contrapposto as a homage to Lynda's classic spin. Prints available via my website.

A medieval "Steamtrooper".

I was (am) going through a bit of a victorian portraiture phase.

Hammer Horror and Highgate Cemetery – two of my favourite things, thus this . . .

MARQUISE

It always amazes me that, for such an icon of cinema, Boris Karloff’s Mummy only ever appears on screen, in his bandages, for just a few seconds; but maybe that’s part of the whole enigma and its longevity, and why perhaps the idea of imagining him in something new felt so appealing.

Originally inspired by the occult fiction of the seventies, this began life as a cover concept for a commercial horror anthology. It later transitioned away and became a personal project, granting me more freedom with its content, and a return to one of my favourite themes – the offsetting of monstrosity with beauty.⁣

Trying to meld the moody tones of pulp noir with the playful romanticism of 1950s lifestyle illustration. Inspired by the fairground scene from the 1942 Veronica Lake classic, This Gun for Hire.

On ballet arches and spidery legs, She dines on her mate, then lays her eggs. Inspired by ballet and the sexual cannibalism of spiders.

Inspired by autumn, the occult and secret societies.

• Dorian Gray • Dorian’s diabolical deal is such a fascinating, seductive idea, yet you just know, inherently, that it’ll all end in tears; that said, if such a thing could exist – a dodgy painting hidden in your attic, taking all the hits, could you consider it? Would you be tempted . . . any takers?

I always loved the wide-eyed screaming horror of Elsa’s original Bride, but for mine I thought it would be fun if she was instead just very, very, displeased. As soon as her motor-functions kick in, it’s gonna kick off, and Doctors Frank’ and Pretorius are gonna take a very short walk off that very high tower. On the set of the original movie, attached to one of the columns, you can see a big wheel that’s used to crank open the skylight. I thought it might be interesting to incorporate this, symbolically, as a sort of halo, like the kind of thing you see in stained glass windows and old religious art, and to give the scene an additional sixth day creation kinda vibe. Also, whilst working on this, every time I thought of the name “Pretorius”, I would involuntarily sing it in my head to the tune of, “No, No, Notorious”