Monsters exist because they are part of the divine plan, and in the horrible features of those same monsters the power of the creator is revealed.
–Umberto Eco, Name of the Rose
I am on the road today, delivering the work for my show, Places of Peace, that opens Friday at the Kada Gallery in Erie.
I didn’t have time to write about new work from the show (that’ll come tomorrow) but wanted to at least post something about today being Halloween. I am not sure that this unholy trinity of words, image and song work together but, hey, I am really tight on time.
First you get an excerpt from Umberto Eco that says, more or less, that the monsters we face are part of who we are, part of our creation. As I age, that makes more and more sense. I am much more scared by what we are than some supernatural force or mythic beast.
Our ability to terrorize and abuse one another rivals any monster.
Then I throw in a poster from a legendary Lon Chaney silent film, London After Midnight. There are no remaining complete copies of the film, the last being destroyed ina 1965 studio fire.
I am a big fan of Chaney, the Man of a Thousand Faces. Even without his flair for stage makeup, Chaney’s face had the ability to perfectly portray the human monster and produce feelings of terror, all without the need for gore. The character from this film always gave me the chills, even in the stills from the film.
Plus, it’s a great poster.
And let’s wrap it up with the ever-Halloweeny Cramps and their psychobilly rant Mad Daddy.
Again, the human monster. Because on Halloween- or any other day, for that matter– nothing is more terrifying than that.
Redtree Times 