The Beast Below

About 'Diabolica': The natural and unnatural world requires balance. As in life and death, light and shadow, above and below one cannot exist without the other. The hero is locked in a symbiotic dependency with its nemesis. Whether it is an angel, a soldier of justice where goodness is righteous or a demon, an agent of malice where destruction of morality reigns supreme both sides are ferociously absolute. These stories of the occult are as old as the theme itself. They are a complex telling of an age old battle.  Angel and demon lore have long represented a conflict that have been raging since the dawn of man.

It is a conflict that continues to rage in all of us today.

Leilani Bustamante was born in Santa Rosa California and is a graduate of the Academy of Art University. She grew up between the suburban sprawl and rural Fort Bragg, where she draws inspiration from their simultaneous decay and growth. Her work often voices themes of mortality exploring elements of death, rebirth, beauty and spoil, the loveliness of the macabre and the mournful influence of osteological motifs. She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.