In ""The Dead Valley,"" Iñigo Bilbao invites us to consider the realm of supernatural horror through a transformative exploration of visual art, deeply rooted in the literature of the genre. The collection begins with an eerie depiction of a dead tree, its twisted, grotesque limbs bending back into the earth, a symbol of retreat from life, yet also a portal into an unnerving new reality we are about to witness through the project. This image draws inspiration from Ralph Adams Cram’s 1895 story ""The Dead Valley,"" a narrative about a malevolent tree in a sinister, oppressive valley.

As Bilbao refined his artistic vision, he stripped back his compositions to their core elements, sky, earth, clouds, and valley. This simplification led to the emergence of desolate landscapes that echo the story of ""An Inhabitant of Carcosa"" by Ambrose Bierce (1886), where a man experiences a disorienting dream in a foreign landscape while grappling with illness. These barren scapes are populated with spectral figures and ominous presences, serving as the embodiment of the Genius Loci, the protective spirit of a place turned malevolent.

Bilbao's work evolves further as he introduces colossal storms, capturing our primal fear of the supernatural and the overpowering unknown. These tempests are not merely meteorological phenomena but are imbued with a malevolent character inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s ""A Descent into the Maelström"" (1841). The storms in Bilbao’s work appear as giant maelstroms in the sky, threatening to engulf the observer, amplifying the sensation of imminent danger and otherworldly terror.

Experimentation with surreal techniques and intentional imperfections in his images allows Bilbao to manipulate reality, enhancing the sensation of a disturbed, suspended state. Portals appear in the earth and sky, sinister black moons, cosmic gateways, tears in the fabric of reality, suggesting thresholds to unknown dimensions that harbor strange creatures or lead to desolate realms.

Bilbao’s artistic journey in The Dead Valley culminates in a series of images where landscapes and natural elements themselves seem to distort and invade, exuding malice and materializing fear. This collection does not merely depict horror; it invokes the pervasive atmosphere of a supernatural world, where the boundaries between sanity and madness are blurred, leaving us to confront our deepest fears isolated within the confines of our minds. Through his art, Bilbao articulates a vision of horror as an omnipresent force, transcending the known and venturing into the abyss of the human psyche.