Tag Archives: horror

Arts and Culture

Dark Pop 3.0 Opens at Last Rites Gallery

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The third installment of Last Rites Gallery’s annual group exhibition Dark Pop 3.0 kicked off this weekend in New York, with a gala opening party on Saturday night. This show brings together eighteen intriguing pieces from a diverse group of artists, whose work is at least somewhat synonymous with a pop art aesthetic within their various genres. With Last Rites being known for its consistently thematically dark collections, participants were given a guideline to err on the darker end of their aesthetic, with truly remarkable results!

The Autumn Kings by Brian Despain

I always love attending shows at Last Rites because I enjoy the combination “House of Horrors” meets Fine Art vibe I get from the space, which is also a tattoo parlor owned by renowned artist, Paul Booth. It also seems that Popaganda artist Ron English – whom Geoffrey and I both adore – often shows up for opening parties. Ron was there on Saturday and it was fun to have a chance to speak with him in such an intimate setting, because Ron English is awesome. My favorite pieces in the exhibit are Brian Despain’s The Autumn Kings, Beau Stanton’s Gasp and Mark Garro’s very clever Serpentine Suppertime, which is accented with a custom frame that really sets the picture off.

Gasp by Beau Stanton

Dark Pop 3.0 Runs through February 12, 2011 at Last Rites Gallery, located at 511 West 33rd Street (West of 11th Ave) in NYC. Gallery Hours are Tues-Fri 2-9pm, Sat 2-9pm, Sun 2-6pm.

Serpentine Suppertime by Mark Garro

Design and Innovation

HR Giger Alien Coffee Table

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There is little doubt that you would be the only person in your neighborhood to own one of these glass-topped tables, with a model of HR Giger’s Alien creature serving as its base, but having one in your home still looks like a dangerous proposition to me. More information on the table, along with pictures and pricing (the scariest part) are available at This Link.

Arts and Culture

MF Gallery Presents the 2010 Toys Show Exhibit!

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For the eighth year in a row, MF Gallery proudly presents a Holiday Season Art Show of hand-made Designer Toys. The pieces in this show are produced in very limited quantities by some of today’s top Underground Artists. Each item is a one-of-a-kind work of art, making them highly sought after collectibles. These toys make great unique gifts, because no two are exactly alike! Most of the items in this show are priced between $10 and $100, making them affordable to all collectors. Not sure what to buy for that friend of yours who has everything? Want to get yourself something extra special this Holiday Season? Why not pick up a collectable Art Toy from The 2010 MF Toys Show? Or you can also get some spinning toy to pass time from Top9rated fidget list, is really fun.


“Blibby” Plush By Jenny Harada

This year’s show includes pieces by: MF Toys, Jennybird Alcantara, Christine Benjamin, Sheri Debow, Jacqui Gallant, Heather Gargon, Jenny Harada, Moses Jaen, Abe Lincoln Jr., Enrico Macchiavello, Drew Maillard, Matt Maguire, Angie Mason, Bianca Panzram, Julie Pinzur, Veronika Rabinovich, Carisa Swenson and many others!

“Make Of Our Hearts One Heart” Doll by Sheri Debow

The 2010 MF Toys Show will be open by appointment only until Thursday December 23rd. You can contact Martina or Frank at (917)446-8681 or email info@MFgallery.net for an appointment, questions or press inquiries. The toys in the show can also be viewed and purchased online at MF Gallery Dot Net and can be shipped anywhere in the world in time for Christmas!

MF Gallery is located at 213 Bond Street (Between Butler and Baltic Streets) in Brooklyn, NY. Take the F or G to Bergen, (Exit at Bergen and Smith, walk 2 blocks east on Bergen. Turn right on Bond. Walk south on Bond for 3 blocks), the A to Hoyt/ Schermerhorn, (Exit at Schermerhorn and Bond. Walk South on Bond for 8 blocks), or the R to Union. (Exit at Union and 4th Ave. Walk west on Union for 3 blocks. Turn Right on Bond. Walk North on Bond for 4 blocks.)

Arts and Culture

Last Rites Gallery Presents Jason D' Aquino and Lead Poisoning Exhibits

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The Dimming Room By Chris Mars

One thing really stands out when I look back on this past weekend: it was an amazing couple of days for checking out rad, edgy new art in New York City. Sometimes an art exhibit is made all the more impactful by the space in which it’s displayed. This is definitely true when it comes to a venue I visited for the first time on Saturday night. If you can remember back to the time, about ten years ago I think it was, when the Limelight nightclub was in full swing and much of the club’s interior resembled something from the most horrific pages of a Clive Barker novel, then you will want to check out an art space called the Last Rites Gallery. Like your darkest, Halloween-meets-Hellraiser nightmares, Last Rites, which is also a tattoo parlor, is a trip in itself before you even get into the gallery space, and really must be experienced to be fully appreciated. People who really know me know that I like dark, fucked up shit, so I just fell in love with the place immediately and will absolutely be returning for future exhibits.

Right now, Last Rites has two cool shows running simultaneously. The first, curated by Jason D’Aquino and entitled Lead Poisoning, is a group show with contributions from over forty artists who work in a black, white and grayscale palette. A few of my favorite artists including Greg “Craola” Simkins, Ron English, Robert Williams and Michael Mararian have pieces in the show. This exhibit definitely fits into the realm of dark art that Last Rites is reputed for. Loved it.

The second exhibit is a solo show by D’Aquino featuring drawings and sketches in his whimsically twisted signature style, executed in graphite on ledger paper and other unorthodox canvases such as actual matchbook cover interiors. D’Aquino’s passion for mixing almost storybook innocence with violent, sexual or otherwise disturbing images reminded me a lot of the amazing work of Mark Ryden. My favorite drawing was one depicting a sailor who has just harpooned a mermaid under the watchful eye of a smiling full moon. Unbelievable! Jason has also made some interesting modifications to Milton Bradley’s classic Operation board game that you will appreciate if you ever owned that game as a child.

Photo By Geoffrey Dicker (Click to Enlarge)

The Brave Words heavy metal news site has a super informative post which will go into a lot more detail about both exhibits than I am going into here, so I suggest you check that out at this link if you have any questions about what you are going to see. But mostly, I would just suggest that you don’t miss these exhibits.

Last Rites Gallery is located at 511 W. 33rd Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10001. Both shows run through July 25th, 2010.

Arts and Culture

One Night Only: Pint Size Paintings at The Sacred Gallery!

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All Photos By Geoffrey Dicker  

If you weren’t at downtown New York’s Sacred Gallery (located at 424 Broadway at Canal Street, 2nd Floor) on Friday July 9th, then you missed out on the happening art party of the summer, Pint Size Paintings! Curated by Durb Morrison (who also contributed works to the event), Pint Size Paintings collects over 400 original works of art by 350 artists, all painted on canvases measuring only 2 by 3 inches in size (each artist was given two canvases)! Geoffrey and I could not believe the fine detailing and originality of these paintings, which ranged in subject matter from conventional portraiture and well-known celebrities to the surreal, the visceral, the horrific and the fantastic.

Besides the sensorially overwhelming effect of the dozens and dozens of captivating miniature canvases (we circled the room a half dozen times at least, noticing new details of these tiny masterpieces on each successive pass) the show was also a great party with tons of cool people to chat up and free-flowing, ice-cold PBRs – so important with this ridiculous heat wave we’ve been having! We had a fantastic time and got completely wasted for free – Art!

Don’t get too bummed though if you missed the exhibit here in NYC, because you can purchase a copy of Pint Size Paintings Volume #1: Miniature Paintings By Big Artists, featuring a large selection of the Pint Sized images, for just $29.99 from the Hell City store. Thanks to Durb Morrison and gallery manager Kevin Wilson for a truly memorable evening!

Paintings by Durb Morrison

This is what the Paintings Looked Like After A Few PBRs!