Katabasis 1

In Greek mythology, a “Katabasis” was the journey to the underworld and into one’s shadow Self to confront and attempt to overcome elements of one’s own psyche. Katabasis is an art book with narrative storytelling and mythological tales that presents all the works displayed at the sold-out menton3 Last Rites Gallery show “Katabasis” held during April 2014, along with preliminary sketches, drawings, oil paintings, and other developmental works that were part of his inward journey to bring forth the images. The book includes detailed discussions about the pieces covering experiences and understandings from the process of their creation, as well as an analysis of Katabasis from mythology with a focus on the classic story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
pp. 72 illusts #090422

KASRA GHANBARI is a writer, researcher, curator, and entrepreneur. He is Co-Founder of the 44FLOOD artist collective.

Kasra was Co-Creator/Writer of MONOCYTE, an occult action-adventure comic book series from IDW Publishing. Prior to that, he was Co-Editor and Publisher of Drawing the Line Again, a Shuster Award nominated comic book anthology series for cancer charity that included Hayao Miyazaki, Moebius, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Sim, and Clive Barker with 100% of proceeds going to The Princess Margaret Foundation and SickKids Foundation.

At 44FLOOD, Kasra has been Creator/Curator/Editor of TOME Vol. 1: Vampirism, EXPLICITUS EST LIBER Vol. 1, TOME Vol. 2: Melancholia, and EXPLICITUS EST LIBER Vol. 2. He’s also Creator/Curator/Editor of the LIBRETTO Vol. 1: Vampirism anthology, as well as Editor of THE SQUIDDER and LUST, both co-published by 44FLOOD and IDW Publishing. Most recently, he was Creator of SCOTT RADKE: ANTUMBRA and Editor of DISKORDIA 1 and DISKORDIA 2.

For the last decade, Kasra has been an artist agent to both up-and-coming and established artists predominantly in the fine art world and comic book industry. Artists represented have included Scott Radke, Clive Barker, Ted McKeever, Guillermo Rigattieri, and Richard A. Kirk.

Kasra has curated a number of gallery shows including: Villains & Assassins group show at Strychnin Gallery in Berlin, Germany; TOME 2: MELANCHOLIA group show at Last Rites Gallery in New York City, New York; and Annual Dark Arts Exhibition: Monstrum group show at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago, Illinois. Curatorial assistance was given for Endless Reflections: 20 Years of Sandman group show at Gallery Nucleus in Alhambra, California and Graphic Novel Art, Five Man Group Show (Kent Williams, David Mack, Ted McKeever, Barron Storey, George Pratt) in Brussels and Ghent, Belgium. He was also Curator of the weekly MONSTER MONDAYS online art project at 44FLOOD, which ran for more than 30 weeks.