If you’re looking for some new art for your abode, something absolutely lovely to showcase in your shop or at a future exhibit, or even if you just enjoy thoughtful artwork as much as I do, the artists of Quartier Macabre have much to offer. Three friends, Seven, Worm, and Echo Webb, have come together through a connection of ideas, drawing together a perfect tri-fold of artistic horror.

Seven’s art, deep and hovering, struck me the most. He is a conceptual artist, commenting on our broken society. He is ever ready to create war through art. Due to his view of life, he was committed to a mental institute where he met up with The Worm in 1995.

“We met in one of our daily group sessions. We shared a lot of the same interests. We secretly exchanged messages and eventually our contact information because, for some reason, we could not converse with other patients. He was released before I was, and eventually we reacquainted. We met Echo Webb in a local art exhibition in our hometown; we liked her work and immediately formed a relationship. A few years later we decided to form the Quartier Macabre, because with our outlook and subject matter, it’s difficult to find gallery representation. So we decided to do it ourselves and at the same time, wage war on the pseudo-art world.”

The Worm is proclaimed on the site as a “sociopath, insomniac, and artist.” His struggle with depression, drugs, and violence led him away from art and to the previously mentioned psychiatric hospital. Luckily Worm made it out with a new vision – to drop his habits and begin drawing again. He began working with Velvet Acid Christ. He still holds onto a darkness: “No one likes looking at him or herself through my mirror. My work is often blunt. I will never be hung in a gallery, and have no desire to be. I just want people who fancy this type of work to be content with what I do. If I make someone happy, I’m happy, because intelligence is few and far between these days.” The Worm’s work is of a different sort from the other’s, more illustrative than portrait, but it expresses a lot of talent. He is clearly very ambitious, taking on several projects requiring driven responsibility.

Echo Webb went to film school and has created dreamy images through photography, short films, and paintings. I find her photography in particular is exceptional. She captures her subjects vividly. She works on music videos and has been featured in several shows. She claims, “My art is the only way I feel I can purge all the pity and fear I feel for mankind.”

The three share a large house with one room converted into a film (and sometimes art) studio. In order to keep things afloat, each keeps other gigs at hand – Worm does graphic art projects; Echo Webb works for a local magazine, and Seven does graphics and is even training to be a mortician. Even these outside jobs seem to reflect their first passion, living in every way as a creator of something darkly brilliant.

It must be noted that the Worm’s work with Velvet Acid Christ has allowed the other members of Quartier Macabre to be involved in designing t-shirts, album artwork, merchandise and a music video for the song “Pretty Toy.” Their music video work with VAC is straight filming, with live actors and models, but Seven explains that the Quartier Macabre artists would love to do stop-motion projects for anyone if funding were available. Their site states that “we also are a full production film studio and can take on any project, including music videos, short films, or full length features. Seven explains the VAC video as something more conceptual and much less pop-culture – “We make it art, a visual representation of the music. The Velvet Acid Christ DVD we are working on for later this year will make Marilyn Manson look like Blink 182.”

The Quartier Macabre site also features purchasing possibilities, complete with price listings and ordering information so you can have some of this beautiful artwork for yourself. The site encourages contact and questions to better know and assist their buys. The artists are also available for commission, encouraging contact on different project ideas. Their site has been a thoughtful excursion that I suggest others venture upon.