Latest Trism gallery brings new meaning to boogeyman

Ben Cain
Fri, 20 Oct 2017 10:04:54 +0000
Arts & Life, Events, Fine Arts, News, boogeyman, gallery, gallery art, Grant Gilsdorf, Trism

The boogeyman is reinvented in Trism’s latest gallery installment. | Credit: Courtesy of Trism

You might remember him from either under your bed or behind you closet door as a child. Now you’ll be able to see him again, in his many different forms, at the Boogeyman Art Exhibit.

The exhibit, which will take place at Trism from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday, will feature versions of the classic old wives’ tale character as interpreted by 26 local artists.

Curator Grant Gilsdorf and Trism’s Event Coordinator Marina Zahran gave artists a very vague instruction: create your version of the boogeyman. The result is an eclectic mix of art pieces, ranging from 2-D to 3-D, charcoal to multicolor.

“The boogeyman can range from many different interpretations depending on who you ask,” Zahran said.

She adds that some artists have gone as far as using the current political and environmental climates as part of their interpretations.

“It really goes to show that the boogeyman shows up in different ways for all of us,” Zahran said.

Corey Aumiller, a featured artist and close friend of Gilsdorf, took the concept of fear in the boogeyman to an interesting place.

In reference to how people sometimes tend to fear silly things, Aumiller said, “Often you are your own worst enemy. I took [the exhibit] as a challenge to just cram as many common fears into one image as I could.”

Aumiller’s piece, ?“The Garden of Earthly Frights,” is a play on the famous Hieronymus Bosch painting “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” It features several fears, ranging from more reasonably common ones, such as death, to more far-fetched ones, such as children being kidnapped in plain sight.

“It basically looks like an early ‘Where’s Waldo?’” Aumiller added.

Aumiller’s piece will be included in Trism’s gallery Friday night alongside the work of 26 others.

To sum up the exhibit as concisely as possible, Zahran said it best.

“It’s not as obvious as what you may think,” Zahran said.” You’re not going to walk in and see something as blatant as what you might expect.”