Halloween Gallery

A while back I posted a group show of themed work, called Night Scenes. So this will be only my second group post. This time the theme is halloween. As you can imagine, a few of the same artists will make an appearance.

I've posted quite a lot of art that deals with very dark and disturbing imagery but not all of it is appropriate for Halloween. It is a holiday after all. Something we celebrate. So bleak despair and man's inhumanity to man are not really what I'm after. Here we seek that side of the horrific that draws us in, that entertains, amuses or even comforts us in some way. Part of the appeal of horror and of Halloween is either knowing the nightmares are not real, or secretly wishing they were. So here's a collection of art that I think reflects this appeal.

Be sure to click on individual images that you like to view them larger (in most cases).
Click on the artist's name to link to the original post of their work. There you can find a link to the artist's website.



Andy Kehoe
 "Be Wary of the Dark Places"  8"x8"  2009





Allison Sommers
"The Sudden Picnic in the Succulent Grove"
8.5" x 7.5" gouache on illustration board 2009

Chet Zar
"Bats"  11" x 14"  oil on canvas  2010

Daniel Danger
“and i dont even like to be seen in the parking lot between the movies and the drink and the glass, whatever the hell that means”
18×24″ five color silkscreen 2009

Dan May 
"Between You and Eye"
18" x 18"  acrylic on wood panel  2010

Fred Einaudi
"Mermaid" 18x24"

Gus Fink 
"Sick Girl"
mixed media on antique photo

Jeremy Enecio
from a show called "Zombies In Love"

 

Jim
untitled




John Brosio
"Fatherless Bride"
60" x 45"  oil on canvas  2010

John Kenn
no title - pen on post-it note

Laurie Lipton 
"Last Night I Dreamt that I Murdered Mommy" - (1980) 
63.5 x 91 cm - pencil on paper

Phil Hale 
title unknown

Scott Radke 
title unknown

Travis Louie 
"Hairy Stare"

Chris Mars - update

Well, Halloween is coming up. So it's a perfect time to do an update on Chris Mars who continues to explore the horrific and the horrified. If you missed my previous posts (Jan. 2010 and  July 2009) and are unfamiliar with his work, the one biographical detail that you need to know is that much of the horror in his imagery stems from witnessing his older bother's struggle with schizophrenia. What you don't really need to know, but is interesting for music fans, is that this is the same Chris Mars who was the drummer for the Replacements and who's recorded several successful solo albums as well.

These days he concentrates almost exclusively on the art. The art is about monsters. But monsters may not be as easily defined as you think. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that his art is about the other, the outsider, the ones who are truly different. Society does not abide the other. The other is a target, an outcast and unclean. I'll leave it to you to guess where Chris Mars' sympathies lie.

If you like what you see he has quite  few events coming up in: Tucson AZ, Los Angeles CA, New York City and Cologne Germany plus a whole lot more gigs in 2011. See his exhibitions page on his website for details. Go to latest for his latest work, and browse through an astounding collection of work from the early '90s to the present under index. www.chrismarspublishing.com

"The Carving Stage"

"Requiem for the Penitent"

























"Munch's Hollow"

"Patent Pending"
























"Hierophant"

"A Safe Distance"  scratchboard  15x15"  2010

Daniel Coves

 Daniel Coves is young Spanish artist, born in 1985. Last year he had a piece included in the BP Portrait award show in London. His compositions are simple and elegant and his use of a single light source, often dim and directly overhead add an atmosphere of melancholy to what are otherwise very formal images. His brushwork as well is economical, realistic without being needlessly fussy, showily bravura, or painstakingly meticulous. Everything here is direct, realistic and formal. They are traditional but with a modern, almost minimalist aesthetic. There's really not much more to say. The work speaks quite elegantly for itself.

He has a website but there is no English translation and very little work on it. Rather, go to his Flickr page to see more.
(note: A lot of the images there are a little dark. I have attempted to brighten them here while retaining the overall color balance)

  
"autorretrato con camisa negra"  (self portait in Black Shirt)  oil on board  90x90cm  2009

 "Eli y naranja quebrado"  oil on linen  180x120cm  2010
























"Eli y blanco de plomo"  oil on canvas  120x100cm  2010

untitled  oil on linen  46x81cm  2010

Composition no. 1  oil on linen  100x50cm  2010

Brett Amory

Brett Amory currently lives and works in Oakland California, and the series of paintings that he's been exploring since 2001 comes directly from that experience. More specifically they stem from his observations of fellow urbanites and the urban experience while waiting for the BART, or Bay area Transit System. Gradually some of the images have moved away from the specific locality of the Bart stations, but the overall theme and subject has remained. Whether he's painting the white washed flood of noonday or the dark of night, the figures in his work find themselves lost in a fragmented, almost abstracted environment. Sound like city life to you? His work manages to capture both the sense of disconnected isolation and the routine banality that are often the hallmarks of urban life. But there is also the underlying theme of potential change, that sense of waiting for something else, the hope that draws people to the city in the first place.
To see more, check out his website at brettamory.com or you can take a look at his work on bluecanvas.com

"Waiting #61"  oil on wood panel  10" x 48"  2010

 "Waiting #52"  oil on wood panel  48" x 48"  2010

 "Waiting #59"  oil on wood panel  24" x 36"  2010

 "Waiting #66"  oil on wood panel  48" x 48"  2010

 "Waiting #61"  oil on wood panel  24" x 36"  2010

"Waiting #48"  oil on wood panel  24" x 48"  2010