“DARK REALISM / DARK SURREALISM” Opening Reception at Gregorio Escalante Gallery in LA This Saturday

Gregorio Escalante Gallery

978 Ching King Road

“DARK REALISM / DARK SURREALISM”

Curated by Chet Zar & Greg Escalante

Featuring Dreamlike Sculptures by Myron Dyal Overtaking the Basement Gallery

 

Off the heels of LACMA’s Guillermo del Toro show, Gregorio Escalante Gallery presents a true Nightmare Before Christmas, with “DARK REALISM / DARK SURREALISM.” In the main gallery, Chet Zar and Greg Escalante approach the concept of Dark Surrealism - surrealistic images from each of the twenty artists on view's imagination. While each has a distinctly different aesthetic, each creates within the paradigm of the Dark Arts, searching for solace in a dark time. The looming threat of extinction, political upheaval, and warring religions on our minds have found a new outlet for expression, Dark Art acts as a means of finding solace amidst this upheaval. Artists on view include Sarah Elise Abramson, Samuel Araya, Tom Bagshaw, Ryan Brown, Nathan Cartwright, William Hand, F. Scott Hess, Karen Hsiao, Jed Leiknes, Elizabeth McGrath, Lee Shamel, Brian Smith, Stanislav, David Stoupakis, Jon Swihart, Christopher Ulrich (massive Last Supper painting is the largest ever in the gallery), David Van Gough, Jasmine Worth, Chet Zar, and Peter Zokosky.

Honestly, the showstopper in this exhibit is what’s going on in the Basement Gallery. Dark Realism, a showcase of works by Myron Dyal, an 70 year old artist who has only recently started to exhibit his work publicly. Larger than life sculptures, paintings, and house sized installations bring us into his world in which his epileptic visions he reinterprets come to life. Born with epilepsy, Dyal was abused for is ailment, beaten when he had seizures and even the subject of exorcisms before the age of 10. As a child, he found safety in a small closet that he tricked out and made a world all his own. He trained himself to know when the seizures were coming and would retreat to his magic closet. It was in those seizures that a world was created, beings and creatures evolved and another life was created. Deal’s sketched most of these creatures and later began to create the creatures in sculptures. These sculptures are colorful, whimsical, tense, scary and simply fascinating. There are 100’s of them and the gallery has a sampling overtaking the basement gallery. This is a must see. 

 

Dark Realism/Dark Surrealism will be on view from December 3 - December 23, 2016. The public reception on Saturday, December 3from 7-10pm.