So debonair pin-up artist Krysztof Nemeth has a penchant for mermaids, as most debonair pin-up artists and in fact most people living in the world at large do, and so I asked him about mermaidliness generally. Krysztof has done pin-ups of all kinds, though, including pirates and roller derby girls and lady devils and librarians and nurses and witches and really, you name it. He has even done a pin-up of a mermaid authoress!
And you can buy all kinds of pin-up-py products at his online store.
AND, in addition to doing amazing pin-up art, Krysztof also put together (and plays the guitar in, and writes songs for) the exceptionally cool electro-noir-lounge Kansas City band The Latenight Callers, who just came out with this very awesome noir video. Please watch it immediately:
I know. I saw the band when I was in Kansas City a few months ago, and was blown away.
Here’s our mermaidly Q and A:
What is your attitude toward mermaids? And where do you feel that mermaids fit into the general pin-up panoply?
I adore Mermaids! I’ve drawn quite a few, actually; one of my most famous was for the Coney Island Mermaid Parade, in fact! I’d like to think that Mermaids are wonderful material for pin-up interpretation; as have many pin-up and fantasy artists before me. In fact, my next mermaid pin-up is going to be a totally bad-ass Pirate Mermaid! Yar!
Do you feel differently when drawing a mermaid than when drawing a regular human?
I do, actually! Probably my favorite thing to draw on a pin-up are legs and feet…parts that are decidedly NOT on a Mermaid. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t find the same kind of sensuality in the lines, curves, and delightful lower-half of these sultry sea-babes!
Can you explain to me what a Mermatrix is?
Ah, yes, The Mermatrix. The Mermatrix is a drawing I did a few years ago for an art show in Seattle. Her mythology (yes, every girl I draw has a fabulous back-story) is that she’s a naughty Daughter of Neptune who has a shiny, black tail, a starfish brazier, octopi holding her ponytails, and a severe Trident she uses to inflict her own brand of Deep Sea Sadism! I think she was actually last seen in the North Atlantic, utilizing a German U-Boat as her leviathanic lair…
What is the special allure and power of the Mermatrix, and does she differ from your average mermaid?
I think she appeals to the bad-boy sailor in all of us…perhaps the antithesis of the almost faerie-like enchantment of what most people think Mermaids to be. She’s definitely a representation of the fierceness, the unrelenting power of the sea…yet surely shares with her (nicer) sisters the magical power of ultimate unattainablity… and that’s definitely a huge source of her power!
Do you have any advice for aspiring mermatrices—and/or mermaids?
Oh, I’m not sure I could give any advice, knowing that I’m certainly one of those captivated travelers who would search for glimpses of these elusive creatures, from the tops of tall masts or the portholes of iron giants…but I certainly can ask for them to be what they are to the fullest, for this world needs that kind of magic.
I am a mermaid 
Would you have a high res image of the mermatrix? I would love to use her on my boat!