The Nightmarish Art of Joshua Hoffine

Joshua Hoffine is an artist that recreates common children's nightmares in his disturbing retouched photographs.  Subjects include monsters living under the bed, a swarm of cockroaches coming out of a mother's mouth and disembodied arms creeping up on an unsuspecting little girl holding a teddy bear.  Hoffine often creates a set and even costumes for his nightmarish photographs.  He has sometimes cast his own daughter as a model for these photos. 

He lives and works in Kansas City, Missouri.  I'm now wondering what kind of a place Kansas City must be.  He is gaining a strong following of fans who love horror. He was recently featured in the New York Daily Times website in a slideshow of 12 images of childhood nightmares.  The one pictured here is titled simply "Bed."

I find his work very disturbing since he has able to recreate at least one childhood fear or nightmare that I still have as an adult.  I also find it a little disturbing that some of the children in the photographs wear only underpants.  I suppose this is to highlight how vulnerable we are to our fears.  I think I'll stick with written horror authors like Stephen King.  One comforting aspect to Hoffine's work is that when you see these images, you know that you aren't the only one who suffered from these nightmares.