Art / Gothic Times

Clockwise from top left: "Mother", "Piper and the Wisemen", "Risen", and "El Muerto".

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

1. "Say Hello To My Lil Friends"
2. "Horned Vengeance"
3. "Reign of Terror"
4. "Mutiny"
5. "Gimme Sum Sugga"
6. "Piper and the Wisemen"
7. "Times R A Changin"
8. "Preacherman and the Union of Funk"
9. "Rally The Troops"
10. "Living Dead"
11. "Mother"
12. "Head Fulla Brains...Shoes Fulla Feet"
13. "Welcome 2 My World"
14. "Jolly Roger"
15. "Shipping Leviathan — Ark of Apocalypse"
16. "Sullen Badge"
17. "Thou Shall Rise"
18. "Ground Control 2 Major Tom"
19. "Motley Krue"
20. "White Tipped Kuato Morphis Slag"
21. "Symphony of the Damned"
22. "Together We Rise"
23. "Risen"
24. "Corporate Shenanigans"
25. "Kings Farewell"
26. "Deceit"
27. "El muerto"
28. "Bandito"
29. "Quarantine"
30. "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.

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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".

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