Artist Keith P. Rein lives in what seems to be a self-created art world paradox. By day, the Georgia native owns a quirky, cutesy wedding design company called Paper Thin that draws in "Southern ladies and the like," where he uses his graphic design skills to churn out everything from curlicue invitations to ice-cream-cone-dotted wrapping paper. But by night, the 29-year-old art-schooled photographer transforms into his pinup illustrator alter-ego who sells his creations under a store cheekily titled The P is for Penis. "I needed a name that, when people tried to Google me, they wouldn’t find the illustration work when they were looking for the design work and vice versa, since I do get a lot of Southern ladies [for the weddings business]," Rein explained. "My middle initial starts with a P. and my ex-wife joked that I should go with 'The P is for Penis' and it kind of stuck."
Completely separate from anything remotely wedding-related, Rein's mixed media "watercolor-meets-digital-painting" works are infused with his own sense of humor, which he's described as "you know, oftentimes raunchy and sexual." His latest set, called "Slaughterhouse Starlets," features seven scantily clad actresses who look like they're assassins in Kill Bill, splattered in blood and wielding variations of spiky (and deadly) weapons. "The very first one I did was of Zooey Deschanel and it started as a drawing for one of my friends for his birthday. He had a crush on Zooey, he’s a farmer, and needed a new axe for his birthday. I couldn’t buy him an axe, so I drew him Zooey with an axe," Rein explained. Next up: Christina Hendricks. "A lot of times, I’ll just make up a story. With her, she killed her husband with the syringe and buried him with the shovel." Succinct explanation! "But the overall idea was just taking these pop stars and actresses that are typically not associated with slasher films and putting them in the macabre setting." By May, Rein says he will add at least ten more actresses to his Slaughterhouse muses, including Aubrey Plaza, Anna Faris, and Anne Hathaway. Too bad that last one's not ready in time for the Oscars. In the meantime, click through to see Tina Fey, Emma Stone, and Mary-Louise Parker holding toxic gas, a nail-studded baseball bat, and more.
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,keith p. rein