Are You Afraid of the Art - Opening This Weekend!

That's right Boos and Ghouls, you have less than seven days (seven days!) until the Halloween event that will put the 'Art' back in "Heart-stopping,' the 'Ooo' in 'Spooky,' and the 'Wee!' back in 'Halloween'! Are You Afraid of the Art, opens this Saturday, Oct. 13th (eek!) from 5pm to 7pm, giving you plenty of time for tricks and/or treats after.

Are you Afraid of the Art will feature art work from Open Door artists, as well as artists from the Columbus arts community. The work ranges from scary to adorable and, in some cases, a most puzzling combination of the two. The opening will feature enough treats to make a dentist weep and costumes are highly encouraged. (For real. We will all be in costume and may deem you less than fun should you come in your regular clothes. Unless your regular clothes are some form of costume, in which case, rock on).

Of corpse, I don't want you to come ill prepared, so I thought I'd share a few of my frightful favorite pieces of art that feature the strange and spooky.

1. Caravaggio's Medusa

Yikes! Here's a lady I would not want to mess with (although I feel she and I could exchange hair-care tips) Carravaggio, the Italian Baroque painter, painted this image of the Gorgon queen in 1596 while living in Rome. Carravaggio, who is famous for being a bit of a hot head himself, had recently left Milan due to "certain quarrels". (Definitely more Tricks than Treats with this guy) Snakes to his awesome use of dark and light, Carravaggio had a large influence on the painters of his time, as well as today.

2. The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

Don't you just hate it when you're trying to get to sleep and that big demon won't stop sitting on your chest? I know I do. Henry Fuseli, on the other hand, found it so inspiring he painted this image not once, but three different times. For a complete and truly bizarre interpretation, check out the image's wikipedia page. What can we learn from this piece- don't look a creepy-gift-horse in it's blank and bottomless eyes? Don't mess with Swiss Artists?  

 3. The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters  by Francisco Goya

This print is arguably the most famous of Goya's Los Caprichos series. Los Caprichos was a set of 80 prints in which Goya, a hard-core Enlightenment Fan, critiqued everything about the society in which he lived (sort of like an 18th century Steven Colbert). Goya's monsters are some of my favorites, as some of the scariest monsters to me exist in real life (example: clowns) 

 4. from The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch

Hieronymus Bosch's paintings are like a 'where's Waldo' of creepy little buggers. I don't even know where to start- the owls? The little gremlins? Awesome! I could look at this painting all day. Little is known about Bosch's life because he left no diaries or letters. Probably because he was too busy coming up with amazing beasties.

5. James Ensor's skeletons

Aw, look at these two guys- so happy! And that one has a hat! Everything's better with a hat (Don't believe me? Ask the internet). Although a 19th century painter, Ensor's bizarre paintings of skulls, carnival masks and puppets had a large influence on many of the 20th century surrealists.


Do you have a favorite piece of monster art? Perhaps you'll have a new one after this Saturday!

Are You Afraid of the Art
Saturday, October 10th

5pm to 7pm

See you there!

sources
wikipedia.com
my brain

my smart coworkers

Boo! Fun Fall Things at Open Door

Greetings Columbus! Ohio! And beyond!

I don't know if you've noticed, but we're now halfway through October. How did this happen? I feel like it was, at most, two days ago that I was sitting outside, in the sun, thinking summery thoughts...(Of course, this could also be because it's Ohio, so two days ago it could've been sunny and summery)

As much as I love summer, though, I love fall. And so do many of the artists here at Open Door.

The most popular response to "What do you love about this time of year"?
COLOR!
No surprise, coming from a bunch of artists. Reds, oranges, and browns have been steadily creeping into sketchbooks, canvases, and sometimes, even yarn (like here in Marjorie's Fancy Fire Reef). ODAS artist, Tory, loves not only the colors of the leaves, but also the patterns they make on the ground. For some, watching the leaves change brings back other warm-fuzzy fall memories. Margaret remembers trips she used to take with her parents to Old Man's Cave to see the fall foilage as a really special time spent with family.

And of course, October means Halloween! Whether you're into tricks or treats, Open Door has some great artwork that can serve as trule unique Halloween decorations. Some prefer the gentler side of Halloween. Haystacks and hayrides are favorites, while several artists are looking to flex their creative muscle on some pumpkins. Some, however, are looking forward to both treats and tricks. Beth, whose calm abstracts might lead one to expect otherwise, is looking forward to "Ghosts! And Spooks!" while Rex loves watching scary movies this time of year.

Universally exciting is the chance to dress up. Whether trick-or-treating, handing out candy or going to a Halloween party, who doesn't love costumes? As you might expect from a group of creative types, there's a wide range of costume plans ranging from skeletons to scarecrows to Cher. Charles, seen here modeling one of his creations, is particularly excited to dress as one of his favorite luchadores. If you're still looking for a costume, Charles has dozens of masks for sale in the gallery, each one handmade and one of a kind.

Personally, I'm all about the treats. Candy corn, cider, pumpkin flavored everything, more candy corn, popcorn, cook-outs, (did I say candy corn?)- I love it all.

Last, but certainly not least, with fall comes all the preparations for our Grand Opening, November 12, from 3-7pm at our new location! We can't wait to see you all there!

For more information on the studio, and to see more amazing artwork, check out our site!