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Preview: Chet Zar’s “All Hallows’ Eve” at Copro Gallery

With Halloween just around the corner, we're seeing many exhibitions exploring darker themes and subject matter inspired by the season- from new works by the Black Moon collective to "The 13th Hour" at Last Rites gallery, and even Yayoi Kusama's "Pumpkins". Among the spookiest is opening tonight at Copro Gallery; Chet Zar's "ALL HALLOWS' EVE", coinciding with their group show "Roadside Attractions" (previewed here). Lover of horror cinema, monsters, movie props and all things Halloween, Zar contributes a new body of work with some of the holiday's most popular images in his style. Glowing skulls, witches, ghosts and the mysterious unknown are all represented in these colorful 60s-inspired illustrations.

With Halloween just around the corner, we’re seeing many exhibitions exploring darker themes and subject matter inspired by the season- from new works by the Black Moon collective to “The 13th Hour” at Last Rites gallery, and even Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkins”. Among the spookiest is opening tonight at Copro Gallery; Chet Zar’s “ALL HALLOWS’ EVE”, coinciding with their group show “Roadside Attractions” (previewed here). Lover of horror cinema, monsters, movie props and all things Halloween, Zar contributes a new body of work with some of the holiday’s most popular images in his style. Glowing skulls, witches, ghosts and the mysterious unknown are all represented in these colorful 60s-inspired illustrations.

As in his previous showing, “Ego Death”, Zar also takes this opportunity to experiment with new bronze sculptures. Zar shares, “My overall concept was to merge these influences into my own style of dark surrealism and create something that is both nostalgic and modern at the same time. I have always dreamed of creating a series of paintings inspired by my love of Halloween and “All Hallows’ Eve” is my tribute and realization of this dream for my favorite holiday.” With this in mind, Zar’s show dives a little deeper into his monsters’ world, giving them unsettling new environments to haunt.

“ALL HALLOWS’ EVE” will be on view tonight through November 8th, 2014.

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Samuel Araya

Artist Chet Zar and collector-author Jeremy Wagner have co-curated "Conjoined Vs. Grotesque," a group show celebrating “the Denizens of the Dark.” The show arrives Jan. 19 at Copro Gallery and runs through Feb. 16. Artists on the roster include Zar himself (who was last featured on HiFructose.com here), Kazuhiro Tsuji, Jay Weinberg, Shane Pierce, Louie Becker, Matt Dangler, Gene Ambo, Claudio Bergamin, Max Verehin, Vincent Villafranca, Dan Harms, Mark Rudolph, Miroslav Petro, Zack Dunn, Dominic Holmes, Carin Hazmat, Magnus Gjoen, Ronald Gonzalez, Bob Tyrrell, Rob Smits, Kevin Estrada, Wes Benscoter, Ed Repka, Dan Seagrave, Andreas Marschall, Scott Musgrove, Ryan Matthew Cohn, and others.

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