Athenaeum Mini-Concerts
Vintage-style jointed Halloween dolls by Patrick Gill - Photo courtesy of StudioSchulz.com
Last month, CityBeat covered surrealist painter Marianela de la Hoz and her disturbing paintings that were in the Seven Deadly Sins group show at Mesa College. That was just a warm-up for her solo show, Heaven and Earth, the Determined Freedom of an Undetermined Life, which opens on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park.
For this show, de la Hoz spent the last year creating 11 new works that tell the story of a modern Eve’s fall from grace. The paintings come together on an altarpiece that de la Hoz constructed to resemble what’s used to display art behind an alter in a Christian church. She’s painted eight new takes on the Seven Deadly Sins; each has two characters illustrating the sin and its evil opposite—Gluttony is accompanied by anorexia, wrath is alongside masochism. An altarpiece tells a story, de la Hoz says, which works well with her dark, edgy narrative.
Meanwhile, Subtext Gallery (2479 Kettner Blvd. in Little Italy) will open its Halloween group show with a reception from 6 to 10 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12. Ghosts of Halloween Past, curated by Jeff Yule, is a mix of contemporary and folk-artsy pieces that celebrate the holiday.
It’s not just vintage art that pays tribute to the holiday, Yule says, and his selection of 10 artists from San Diego to Vancouver shows it. Patrick Gill’s bright set of four vintage-style, jointed Halloween dolls, made from carved wood and clay, best captures the fun spirit. There are candy boxes that several artists have made, too; some, like Gill’s, are lighthearted and colorful, while Katherine Webber’s “Devil’s Treats Candy Box” isn’t something you’d want to reach into.
Besides handcrafted art, there will be a mix of media, including work by pop-surrealist painter Kelly Vivanco. The show closes on Nov. 9.
Amy blogs at saysgranite.com and you can follow her on Twitter @saysgranite.
