Scary Monsters and Super Creeps on Exhibit



Even though I am mostly an electronic media kind of guy, I do try to keep my eyes open for examples of the horrific in other visual mediums. Thus, I feel a bit red in the face over almost missing an art exhibit of this very kind right in my own backyard. Ending June 12, the Irvine Contemporary art museum in Washington, DC has been hosting "Don't Be Scared, You're Supposed to Be", an exhibit featuring the works of Aaron Johnson and Barnaby Whitfield. While Whitfield's work is disturbing enough in its own right, Johnson is clearly the master of the grotesque. As you can see from the example above, his skill with color, shape and form create images that--while far from photo-realistic--depict gory, malformed nightmares that are normally the sole domain of the subconscious mind. For visual horror fans, Johnson is definitely the artist to watch.

However, if you don't get a chance to make it to DC, never fear--there's plenty of madness happening in Brooklyn, New York this summer. Starting on June 11th and ending on July 23rd, the Observatory is hosting "A Love Craft: Art Inspired by Monsters, Madness and Mythos", an art exhibit in honor of the American horror master himself, Howard Phillips Lovecraft. It sounds like a beastly blast, so be sure to get your tentacled appendages over there before Cthulhu stops calling.

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