Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine
With Halloween just around the corner, it's time for Copro Gallery's spooky group exhibition of "Roadside Attractions". Previously covered here on our blog, the exhibit is an extravaganza of the macabre, guest curated by Cris Velasco, who is well known for his moody film and video game scores. This year's installment coincides with joint solo exhibitions, Mark Garro's "Corpus Callosum" and Matt Dangler's "Sanctify". Artists have served up their interpretation of all things Halloween-related, and by that we mean from the scary to the darkly romantic, and even a little funny.
Halloween is supposed to be about embracing the sinister, but somewhere along the way, sinister became sexy. Enter the sexy Halloween costume. Artist Deborah Oropallo embraces this costume phenomenon in her layered photo-montages of subjects best known by their masterpiece museum portraits. For her series titled "Guise", Oropallo superimposed pigmented photographic prints and acrylic painting in a way that makes her costumed subjects almost indistinguishable. If you look closely, suddenly, famous faces such as the Girl with a Pearl Earring become the Sexy Maid, Sexy Nurse, Sexy Circus Ringmaster, the list goes on.
Just in time for today's holiday, Stephen Romano Gallery in Brooklyn currently has a group show on display titled "In Missa Interfectionis." The exhibition glorifies the morbid and macabre, juxtaposing contemporary works by the likes of Colin Christian, Soey Milk and Chie Yoshii with eerie artifacts from various cultures and time periods. A 20th-century Caribbean altar complete with a miniature casket and a 19th-century American illustration of the evolution of monsters are just a couple of the historical curiosities shown with the modern works. These pieces provide context for the newer ones, attesting to humanity's eternal obsession with death and the supernatural.
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 Halloween approaches, Copro Gallery is gearing up for their "Roadside Attractions" group show, a dark art extravaganza guest curated by film and video game composer Cris Velasco. Subtitled "A collection of oddities," the exhibition features works in a variety of media. Some pieces revel gleefully in the idea of evil, like Clifton Harvey and Matt Dangler's paintings, while others present insidious-looking, haunting specters (as in the case of Laurie Lee Brom and Chris Mars). The exhibition opens on October 18 alongside Chet Zar's solo show, "All Hallow's Eve." Following the opening, viewers will have the chance to fully immerse themselves in the shows' macabre themes at the gallery's Halloween costume party. Take a look at our preview of "Roadside Attractions" below.
On Saturday, just hours before the event, Corey Helford disclosed the location of artist Brandi Milne’s emotional new work, 2-years in the making. Their large warehouse pop-up space hosted a carnival-style opening, complete with cotton candy, but thematically, “Here Inside My Broken Heart” is Milne’s most intimate show. Milne’s latest series of paintings interprets the ups and downs of her own broken heart with layered imagery. Her sugary sweet, lyrical paintings are far less literal than her previous offering at Corey Helford, “Before I Hide Away” (covered here). Gone are the handwritten quotes Milne strung throughout her narrative, perhaps allowing her work to speak for itself. Read more after the jump.