“Gods and Monsters” Offers Scary Good Art

The annual exhibit gives horror fans a chance to explore and display their creative side

By Ian Knoll

Horror and art are an often overlooked combination. Although works by Ensor, Goya, and Bosch chill to the bone, “Mona Lisa” doesn’t cry blood, Bob Ross never painted a hellscape, and the only similarity I can find between “I am Legend” and The Museum of Modern Art is that they both have “Starry Night” in them. While it’s by no means the Louvre, the annual “Gods and Monsters” exhibit at Artspace Jackson Flats is here to scratch that trembling itch for ghastly art.

Put on by the “Otherworldly Arts Collective,” the show is a chance for horror artists in the Twin Cities and beyond to display their macabre art. With forms ranging from woodcuts and sculptures to digital art and painting (with a multitude of mixed media in between) and inspirations from classic horror, cinema, shows, games, or the artist’s own dark imagination, anyone with an interest in horror will find at least one piece that murmurs unspeakable monstrosities to them. And if you do, you can probably buy it too—most work on display is for sale either in their original form or as prints, alongside a variety of other mementos. My personal favorites among the hundred-plus pieces ranged from the chilling to the absurd. Somewhere in the middle were the paper-cutting portraits of classic Universal Pictures monsters by Damian Schaab (the highlight? Invisible Man, of course). Meanwhile “Illumination of the Third Parable” by Josh Hames, which depicts a wizened old man and the phantom that looms over him, is as vague yet ominous as the name suggests. Somewhere else entirely is the sculpture “Crawfish till the Bitter End” by Jackie Platt (I’ll leave that one up to the imagination).

Between packed crowds, frightful costumes, and the at times nightmarish and gory art, the atmosphere on opening night was a bit overwhelming for the horror casual like myself, but the hardcore aficionados no doubt found themselves right at home. For those wanting a more laid back opportunity to take in this eldritch exhibit, the gallery is still open weekdays until October 26th.