Astra Zero

Astra Zero, a gay Canadian artist, presents MENtality & MONSTERS, an art book of more than 200 pages measuring 9.5 by 11 inches. Its images combine traditional, mixed media and digital techniques, and many of them center on the male body fused with supernatural figures. Muscular, nude vampires, zombies and demons appear throughout, and the work moves back and forth between the erotic and the frightening. The book is laid out like a scrapbook and mixes the artwork with eerie poems and horror-themed pieces. Alongside the images, Zero shares glimpses of his own intrusive thoughts, so the book reads partly as a look into his inner life as well as a collection of art. The book suits readers who want horror imagery and male sensuality together, and who are curious about an artist's unsettling inner world. Zero's repeated focus on the male form and on dark themes gives the collection a single, consistent tone from start to finish.