Jason Stieva, a tattoo artist, created a series of Gothic-themed sculptures with a prominent skeleton motif in 2014. They were crafted by assembling metal scraps, plastic miniatures, animal skulls, horns, an assortment of knick-knacks, and carved wood, the color homogenized with a layer of beige paint.
Sculptures
- "Say Hello To My Lil Friends"
- "Horned Vengeance"
- "Reign of Terror"
- "Mutiny"
- "Gimme Sum Sugga"
- "Piper and the Wisemen"
- "Times R A Changin"
- "Preacherman and the Union of Funk"
- "Rally The Troops"
- "Living Dead"
- "Mother"
- "Head Fulla Brains...Shoes Fulla Feet"
- "Welcome 2 My World"
- "Jolly Roger"
- "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse"
- "Sullen Badge"
- "Thou Shall Rise"
- "Ground Control 2 Major Tom"
- "Motley Krue"
- "White Tipped Kuato Morphis Slag"
- "Symphony of the Damned"
- "Together We Rise"
- "Risen"
- "Corporate Shenanigans"
- "Kings Farewell"
- "Deceit"
- "El muerto"
- "Bandito"
- "Quarantine"
- "Horny Bebe"
The set also includes crafter-per-commission repetitive pieces such as skull chalices, gothic skull frames, skull sconces, and the "Triple6" skulls. Additionally, "Wisdom" is a print design made in 2013 and sort of a Concept Art for the upcoming sculptures.
The most well-known is "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse", currently within the possession of a collector. It took 14 months to craft, weighs a whopping 200 pounds, measures 7 meters in length, 2.5 meters in width, and stands at a titanic 8 feet tall.
Pictures of the set—both finished and in various states of assemblage—can be found in Stieva's Shallow Grave Studios Instagram account.
Tropes:
- Bilingual Bonus: A couple of the pieces' titles are in another language. "Bandito" translates as 'bandit' in Italian, while "El Muerto" is 'the dead one' in Spanish.
- Concept Art Gallery: Stieva has an alternate Instagram account called Shallow Grave Studios; there, he posts overview and detail pictures of his Gothic Times pieces in various states of assemblage.
- Dem Bones: The main visual motif is the bones scattered through all of the sculptures, particularly, skulls. In "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse", part of the ship's crew (as well as the scaffold) is made of human skeleton beings.
- Fan Art: "Preacherman and the Union of Funk", "Thou Shall Rise", and "Motley Krue" are Star Wars fan sculptures made of plastic figures of several characters (including Yoda, Jabba, and C-3PO) on carved wood frameworks.
- Flying Dutchman: "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse" is a giant decrepit monstrosity built from the ground up with a Skeleton Motif and manned by monsters.
- Gashadokuro: The figurehead of "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse" is decorated with a pair of skeletons much larger than members of the Skeleton Crew. Given this sculpture's name, it's not a stretch to assume that these sailors (some of them belonging to historical armies) died from famine.
- Giant Woman: The titular beautiful, horned lady of the "Mother" sculpture stands at least ten times taller than the demonic and skeletal figures accompanying her.
- Gothic Punk: All of the sculptures in the series were designed with Jason Stieva's admiration for classic Gothic (skulls and skeletons, mostly) design accompanied by Steampunk paraphernalia. In "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse", there are gears at the bottom that are implied to propel it (considering the ship is too big to row by hand and there are no sails).
- One-Word Title: "Mutiny", "Risen", "Mother", "Deceit", "Bandito", and "Quarantine".
- Skeleton Crew: "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse" is manned by a densely populated crew crowding every nook and cranny, varying from actual skeletons to Ambiguously Human crew-mates in uniforms from different eras. Given the decrepit nature of the ship, this trope was the idea.
- Skeleton Motif: All the sculptures in the set display skulls and human skeletons rather prominently or, at the very least, abundantly; be it in the wood frameworks, as actual animal skulls, or miniature human skeletons and skulls. This is what gives the set the Gothic part of its title.
- Vehicle Title: "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse" is called after a fictional ship made of human skeletons.
- Verbing Nouny: "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse" has the first part of its title styled this way; Shipping (the verb in gerund) Leviathan (the noun). There's also the tenth piece "Living Dead".
- The X of Y: The subtitle of "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse" is phrased this way. We also have "Reign of Terror", "Preacherman and the Union of Funk", and "Symphony of the Damned".