The Art Show
I was featured in a gallery show called The Art of Horror with a project I was a part of with my best friend and artist Matthew Woods. We had four photos from our collaboration entitled The Final Girl Project which we shot before I left New York for an afternoon into the evening with beers and snacks and a trip to Forever 21. Matt had been wanting to do something with the concept of the final girl from horror films for a while and created this concept and we talked about it almost every time we got together. Finally, we set a date and go to work.Our first attempt went pretty well. We did have to make several batches of blood (dude, it's real hard to get it the perfect red) and listened to the theme from Halloween on repeat probably too many times but overall, we were pretty happy with the product. We were pleased just to have tried it and see how we shoot together (we hadn't done anything like this before) and started to figure out the deeper message Matt was aiming for by actually seeing a physical creation.Cut to living in Vermont. In September, I saw in Seven Days (our local arts paper) an ad asking for horror themed art. It could be anything from puppets to performance to sculpture to photographs. I took a shot of it and sent it to Matt thinking, “Why not?” Excitedly, he emailed the contact and sent over five of our photos. A day or so later, we got an email saying out of 500 entries, ours had been one of the 100 selected. We were going to be in a gallery.Matt scrambled and managed to get the night off and a car to make it up here for the opening with Alex, his boyfriend. Having just had another art opening of his work earlier in the week, October was shaping up to be a pretty good month for Mr. Woods. He was just as thrilled as I was as this was also his first art gallery feature that wasn't just his own work. He's done showings which have been majorly successful but nothing like this where he wouldn't know any one aside from me and Alex. None of us had any idea what to expect. Again, you shouldn't assume anything in Vermont.
After arriving safely, having some beers, catching up, and consuming a necessary pizza slice, we walked to the gallery from Church Street. The event went from 5-11pm and we arrived after 7 as planned. The S.P.A.C.E Gallery is large but winding so it was pretty congested as we made our way first to the beer location to grab liquid courage and then began to wandering and search for our shots. We didn't have to go far as they were in the first hallway down from the entrance. They stood out as they were the only photographs nearby.It was a surreal moment. Sure, there were people with those white contacts and intense piercings wandering around us but there were also art lovers and families and Halloween fans making their way through and actually LOOKING at the art and discussing it. This wasn't Monster Mania (long story: we attended that earlier this year). This was a place where Matt's work fit in but also stood out. It was different than any other piece we saw. It was a proud moment. I was proud to be there with this person I believe in and am such a fan of in a project we made together and it was on an art gallery's wall and we did it on our own.
The work varied in the show but we didn't notice anything terrible or not belonging there. We fell in love with a lot of work. It was passionate and dark. Some were quirky and a little out there. A few were just downright amazing and so detailed it seemed impossible that it was made by hand. It wasn't New York but at the same time, I could see so many of those works being shown there. Galleries just want good pieces to showcase and sell. Why not these incredibly absurd pencil sketches of monsters you've never seen? Why not a great black and white shot of a girl under the couch with a knife reflecting perfectly on her terrified face? It was clear Matt had found a good market for what he does. And I had checked off another goal I wanted to achieve.I am not saying I couldn't be in a gallery in New York (I'm sure some modeling work has been somewhere) and I know Matthew Woods definitely can and will be. But the fact that it just took a little effort of reading the paper and purposely seeking different projects that we found ourselves at a really unique and fun event, equipped with fire dancers in the parking lot, staring at the outcome of a great afternoon and the future of a project we both care deeply about.
I learned that outside the city I should still pay attention and submit for everything because out here...it won't get lost in the shuffle. It just might make it to the top of the pile.For more information on the artist Matt Woods, please follow him on Instagram @hallowwoods or visit his website
