Tuesday, October 11, 2016

two hundred seventy-eight

Chad Beroth, one of the exhibition coordinators at Delurk Gallery invited Dane Walters, Lye Lawrence, and me to exhibit in October 2016.  I don't recall Chad's specific words, it was almost a year ago.  Something like Dane paints dark shit and you're one of my all time favs, and Lye is an awesome-up-an'-comer so the three of you would balance out a cool Halloween show.  Honest.  Chad said something like that.  Delurk Gallery operates as an artist collective.  Within the five year old gallery there is an honored tradition of collaboration.  It's a way to stretch out and try new things. Try new patience.  Try not to cry.  

creating the death
So the three of us accepted the invite and got to thinking.  Collaboration.  What we gonna do?  How do we mesh our three styles?  We decided we would fill the Delurk Gallery by working on three collab-o works and then also exhibit selections of our own work individually.

Next thing I knew it was February and we all had made a 3ft x 3ft x 3in panel/canvas each to create on. We decided to meet in Delurk's gallery space, lay down a drop cloth, put the blank panels on easels, and bring our favorite painting weapons.  Boom.  Nine hours later (with a dinner break) we had created three otherworldly works.  From that day on we set to working on our individual bodies of work with the plan to meet up again to finish our gruesome collab-o tasks.

Dane with one of the finished collab-os.
October was fast approaching and so was a theme.  Each of us contributed to the collaborative effort for a deathly good show: Necro Nectar.  And the contributed art works depicted were ripe with putrid zombies, morphing botanical-esque figures, and grubby graphite skeletons.  

An aside -- I was inspired to use old, recycled, stained, and wrinkled drawing paper to coax out illustrations of realistic skeletons.  You know, make it look old and weathered and dark and rich -- with a tinge of jovial.  Despite depictions of death and demise, the skeletons sport Micky Mouse pants -- the ones with the big buttons of the front.  

Lye adding his signature to one of the collab-o works.






But that spirit of collaboration -- that kept rising like the dead.  The day of the opening reception arrived and everyone was pitching in to finish the job.  Dane's Momma brought a table spread of vittles.  Katherine brought home-made spider sugar cookies.  I brought canned fish.  Dane and Lye painted the walls, Chad trained the lights.  Holland placed title labels.  Group effort, y'all -- if you've ever been part of a Delurk event from the inside, this was a primo example.  Delurk members even brought in fresh, haunting work for the "Collective Wall."  The gallery was thick with plump death. 

A can of mackerel makes a cameo.
And death came calling promptly at 7p for the opening reception.  The lights illuminated for curious visitors.  The rendered flesh glistened, the bones rattled, and organic treasures were unearthed.  And the show is ready for you to experience now through October 28 at Delurk Gallery located at 207 W 6th Street in downtown Winston-Salem.  



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