Crybaby (Lil Peep in Memoriam) by Bael

Crybaby (Lil Peep In Memoriam)

By Bael

Ink on A3 Illustration board

Not for Sale


British artist Bael is one of my favorite illustrators. After seeing his work first online and finally in-person at a memorial for a friend (and his muse), I hosted two solo exhibitions and interviewed him for a major print publication. I also managed to add several of his pieces to my own personal collection.


Lil Peep was a frequent visitor and occasional patron to the galleries I ran in Los Angeles and Pasadena. He introduced himself as "Gustave" (his birth name) and was a sweet, easy-going kid. When I heard his music I was blown away but shortly thereafter he was dead.


While a lot of Bael's work reminisces Patrick Nagel by way of Egon Schiele there is a distinct lean into post-millennial gothic culture and this striking image is something I think Gustave would've thought was cool. It also somehow epitomizes the entire GothBoiClique, soundcloud-rapper culture in a single image. It's both unlike and very like Bael's overall oeuvre.


While not a Death of the Endless commission per se, it's a representation of life lost too early that holds personal significance to me. At the base of the concept as outlined in Sandman is that Death appears differently to everyone, so I'm going to call this Endless adjacent - not the least because Memento Mori art is ubiquitous of death and dying, but also immortality.



#death #endless #lilpeep #gothboiclique #bael #crybaby