Welcome

Hello and welcome to Gallery Of Fear. Here we show images from past and present that create the feeling of Fear within the spectators of said artwork. The gallery is ran by no other than Mason T. Guilliam from online art class, at Crafton Hills College, in Yucaipa, California.. Enjoy

In today's Exhibition we will be taking a look at artwork that has dazzled millions and have a long time reputation with FEAR, along with some new pieces of artwork that the curator himself believe to exhibit such emotion. The following artists have been chosen specifically for this exhibition because their artwork either exhibit the emotion of fear or creates the feeling of Fear within the spectators of said artwork:

·         Edvard Munch

·         Hans Memling

·         Henry Fuseli

·         Andy Warhol

·         William Blake

·         Jean Louis André Théodore Géricault

·         Peter Paul Rubens

·         Salvador Dali

·         John Lautermilch

·         Katerina Apostolakou

The Scream by Edvard Munch

Artist: Edvard Munch
Title: The Scream
Date: 1893
Medium: Oil, Tempera and pastel on Cardboard
Dimensions: 91 cm × 73.5 cm

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intensely evocative treatment of psychological themes built upon some of the main tenets of late 19th-century Symbolism and greatly influenced German Expressionism in the early 20th century. One of his most well-known works is The Scream of 1893. The Scream is Munch's most famous work and one of the most recognizable paintings in all art. It has been widely interpreted as representing "the universal anxiety of modern man."⁽ Eggum, Arne; Munch, Edvard (1984). Edvard Munch: Paintings, Sketches, and Studies. New York: C.N. Potter)  Art critic Laura Cummings remarks on this work of art, she states, " Painted with broad bands of garish color and highly simplified forms, and employing a high viewpoint, the agonized figure is reduced to a garbed skull in the throes of an emotional crisis." The Scream is an excellent example of fear, by viewing the objects expressions one catches a sense of anxiety and panic. Munch wrote of how the painting came to be: "I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature."( Prideaux, Sue (2005). Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream. New Haven: Yale University Press)

Hell by Hans Memling

Artist: Hans Memling
Title: Hell
Date: 1485
Medium: Oil on wood
Dimensions: 22 x 14 cm

Hans Memling was a German painter who lived in  Flanders and worked in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting From the 1460s until the end of his life he became one of the leading artists, painting both portraits and  religious works, using the style he learned in his youth from his masters. Art critic Laura Cummings states it best, "The image shows a Hell beast Man as well as woman, devil as well as dragon, dog and bird, this vicious critter is dancing on the damned as they burn in eternal hell fire. Memling heaps up the horror, so that the inferno broils within the jaws of a colossal fish and the demon holds a banner emphatically denying the possibility of hope: "In hell there is no redemption'." The scene is part of a larger altarpiece intended to frighten 15th-century churchgoers into far better behavior. This piece falls perfectly in place here. This image was used throughout time to force people to live a better lifestyle through fear of damnation. Those who set their eyes upon this image were fearful of their own fate.

Saturn Devouring His Son by Peter Paul Rubens

Artist: Peter Paul Rubbins
Title: Saturn Devouring His Son
Date: 1636-1638
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: 180 x 87 cm

Peter Paul Rubens was a German born Flemish Baroque painter, and a proponent of an extravagant Baroque style that emphasized movement, color, and sensuality. He is well known for his Counter Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. According to some versions of the Greek myth, Saturn  believed he was destined to be overcome by his own sons, so he devoured each of them as newborns to defeat the prophecy. Rubens painted this horror story quite differently from Goya, who showed a monster biting the head off a grown man. In this painting, Saturn is a ruthless murderer intent on the consumption of his own baby, starting with the infant's tender chest as if it were the succulent flesh of a chicken. This image exhibits true fear within itself, the fear of the innocence. Within the image you see Saturn devouring his son, however the expression on the child's face as he is devoured by his own father exhibits pure fear. The child's expression shows the fear of a child losing his life and yet not understanding why. This young child exhibits pure fear because all he can do is trust his father will protect him against the world they live in but yet Saturn is full of greed and takes his son's life with no remorse, sucking the energy straight for the poor infants chest. I chose this piece over Goya's  because of the intense fear on the child's face and the amazing artwork to go with .I believe this portrait tells more of a horror story compared to Goya's

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

Artist: Henry Fuseli
Title: The Nightmare
Date: 1781
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 101.6 cm × 127 cm (40 in × 50 in)

Henry Fuseli was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art. He worked and spent most of his life in Britain. Fuseli painted more than 200 pictures, but he only showed  a small number of them. The first piece of art to excite and draw the public's  attention was The Nightmare. The Nightmare is Henry Fuseli's best known work. Poet Erasmus Darwin wrote a poem about The Nightmare which he included  in his long poem The Loves of the Plants (1789), for which Fuseli provided the frontispiece. The portion of the poem was written as such: " So on his Nightmare through the evening fog

Flits the squab Fiend o'er fen, and lake, and bog;
Seeks some love-wilder'd maid with sleep oppress'd,
Alights, and grinning sits upon her breast.

Such as of late amid the murky sky

Was mark'd by Fuseli's poetic eye;
Whose daring tints, with Shakspeare's happiest grace,
Gave to the airy phantom form and place.—
Back o'er her pillow sinks her blushing head,
Her snow-white limbs hang helpless from the bed;
Her interrupted heart-pulse swims in death.

O'er her fair limbs convulsive tremors fleet,
Start in her hands, and struggle in her feet;
In vain to scream with quivering lips she tries,
And strains in palsy'd lids her tremulous eyes;
In vain she wills to run, fly, swim, walk, creep;
The Will presides not in the bower of Sleep.
—On her fair bosom sits the Demon-Ape
Erect, and balances his bloated shape;
Rolls in their marble orbs his Gorgon-eyes,
And drinks with leathern ears her tender cries" (Erasmus Darwin)

 "The canvas portrays the worst dream in art and by far the most famous. The sleeper in her virginal nightgown lies readied on the bed like a sacrificial victim, throat stretched bare as if for the blade. On her stomach squats an excremental troll. His pricked ears cast horn-like shadows on the curtains behind her, which are, in turn, thrust apart by the head of a wild-eyed stallion. Even those blind to the intimations of rape, bestiality, voyeurism and murder can feel the power of Fuseli's metaphor: the nightmare as nocturnal violation." (Laura Cummings). The Nightmare was meant to cause nightmares.  The canvas portray a dreaming woman and the content of her nightmare  This gives the viewer fear because it brings into perspective that the spirit world and reality are not too far apart and that it is possible that the evils of the spirit realm can access and torment our souls through Nightmares. This work of art fits into the theme beautifully. Accompanied  with an eerie poem this painting strikes fear into the hearts of those who view this painting. The painting itself  was intended to cause nightmares for those who lay their eyes upon it. 

Heads Severed by Jean Louis Andrè Thèodore Gèricault

Artist: Jean Louis Andrè Thèodore Gèricault 
Title: Heads Severed
Date: 1818
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 50 x 61 cm

 Louis Andrè Thèodore Gèricault was a influential French artist, painter and lithographer, known for The Raft of the Medusa and other paintings. Although he died young, he became one of the pioneers of the Romantic movement. Gericault’s most famous work is the Raft of the Medusa, however Gericault sought to break out of the classicism which was the standard painting style of his time. Romanticism was on the rise and not afraid to tackle emotional subjects. Gericault worked on paintings such as the severed heads as prefatory pieces before he tackled his larger works. He found limbs and severed heads in the morgues and dissection labs of hospitals. The painting is troubling, but many great artists have studied the dead to better paint the living. This image invokes fear in the living because of the pure graphicness of the painting. The two severed heads show how mortal man is and that no one is above death, one false step for any man or woman and this could be their fate. One heads eyes remain open starring at the viewer as if he's begging for help, for another chance or fore warning the spectator that this could be their fate.

The Ghost of a Flea by William Blake

Artist: William Blake
Title: The Ghost of a Flea
Date: 1819-1820
Medium: tempera heightened with gold leaf on mahogany panel
Dimensions: 21,5 × 16 cm

The Ghost of a Flea is a small scale  painting by the English poet, painter and printmaker William Blake. Although Ghost of a Flea is one of Blake's smallest works, it is monumental in its imagination. Its tiny scale achieves drama in contrasting the muscular bulk and  power of the creature against its incarnation in the panel as an insect. The flea is reincarnated as an eerie hominid, haunting the night corridors with the bowl in which he uses to collects human blood. Hunched and scaly with a  tongue that slides back and forth between his lips, he carries a knife and cup of gore with dreadful intent , a far more grotesque creature than his insect counterpart. According to Blake's  friend John Varley, "Blake saw the ghost in a vision. The flea told him that fleas were inhabited by the souls of such men, as were by nature bloodthirsty to excess." The flea is an image which scared some of those who viewed it, mainly children. This image is an earley depiction of an otherworldy creature which parents would use to scare their children into doing what they asked. This early monster can be compared to a modern day horror or monster film, its an image that haunts the viewers very mind and has been known to cause horrific dreams in some

Premonition of Civil War by Salvador Dali

Artist: Salvador Dalí
Year: 1936
Type: Oil on Canvas
Demension: 100 cm × 99 cm (39 5/16 in × 39 3/8 in)

Salvador Dali was a Spanish surrealist painter born in Figures, Spain. Dalí was a skilled draftsman, known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work. Salvador Dali’s ‘Premonition of Civil War’ is a famous painting, one of the most exciting and terrifying pictures in the world. The painting shows in close up two fighting mutant monsters consisting of pieces of human bodies. They are locked in a terrible battle ,the  face of one of them is distorted by pain, they look like a body that is torn by itself. Art Critic Laura Cumming states  "It feels fearful and disgusting. You can’t stay indifferent or remain the same after casting a look at the painting. It leaves a trace, an imprint in the human’s soul, being caused by the intensity of human emotions. And the peaceful background of the picture only intensifies the emotional contrast of the painting" This painting fits perfectly into this exhibition because the image itself is fearful. If any one person came across such an bizarre mutant they would tremble in fear. The painting make me feel uneasy and bit nauseous as well as scared.

Electric Chair by Andy Warhol

Artist Andy Warhol (1928‑1987)

Title Electric Chair

Date1964

MediumScreenprint and acrylic paint on canvas

Dimensionssupport: 562 x 711 mm

Andy Warhol  was an American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explored the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement.  After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist. The dreadful silence glows in the gloom of Andy Warhol's Electric, as if describing the future for whoever has been slaughtered in that seat. The restraints lie slack on the ground and the darkness resembles a shadowy existences  that of a realm lack life and yet filled with  death. . The silkscreen print takes the original photograph to the verge of dissolution with its blurry overlays, so that one can hardly grasp what is going on.. Andy Warhol stated, "Everything I do is connected with death,", and it seems true of his silkscreen images This piece of work is fearful, the chair is an eerie remembrance of those who have passed away in that very seat, the innocent and the damned alike. The Electric Chair by Andy Warhol is not only an eerie work of art but it is also a reminder of mankind's dark past, before there was equal rights and fair judgments there was the electric chair, which was used to fry the innocent and damned alike, with a vengeance. 

Fear And Faith by John Lautermilch

Title: Fear And Faith

Artist: John Lautermilch

Medium: Painting - Oil On Board

November 17th, 2008

Dimensions:11.000 x 16.000 x 1.000 inches

John Lautermilch graduated from Washington University School of Fine Arts (St. Louis, Missouri) with a certificate in fine art. He has been painting for the past 60 years and has had numerous one man shows. He is presently preparing for another two shows for the Missouri Botanical Garden and one at Componere Art Gallery in St. Louis, May. You can see more of John's work by going to www.yessy.com/johnlautermilch.. John released Fear and Faith on November 17th 2008. The image portrays a frightened old women who is clutching a crucifix  and the door she is hiding behind mumbling some prayer's behind the cross. Many people from around the world have commented on this photo. Marlene Robbins from the United States states, "Wow! John-this is outstanding work. The eyes say so much...as do the other features-hands,cross. Very dynamic." Another woman from Assagao, India States, " So very sad and emotional... John, you have done a fab job here and melt people´s heart away. God bless all such women in the world !" And a man from Rawdon, Canada states, " such a powerful expression! amazing portrait John! ............... It would be a delight to see your awesome work added to the group Word Worth 1000 Pics, as the Word/theme for this Week is "OLD" .... http://fineartamerica.com/groups/word-worth-1000-pics.html" I chose this portrait because it  is a fine example of fear, here you can see the old woman frightened and scared, which in turn makes the viewer  scared. The painting leaves the viewer with bewilderment, the viewer wants to know what the old woman may be seeing that is frightening her so bad and then again does not wish to know in fear that they themselves will be frightened.

Fear by Katerina Apostolakou

Title: Fear

Artist: Katerina Apostolakou

Medium: Painting on Canvas 

 Demensions: 24x20 inches

Katerina Apostolakou is a young woman from Greece. She studied law and psychology but never received a diploma. However when depression hit in Greece Katerina found peace and expression in art. Katerina dedicates the painting to "another suicide that took place in Greece because of crisis." I chose this painting because it exhibits the regret one may face when committing such a selfish act, such as suicide. The image makes the viewer feel sorrow for the damned soul, but the image also serves as a message. Those who commit a selfish act will have to deal with their choice and will be doomed to watch his loved ones suffer which is a fearful thought that this could be the fate for many of us.

The process of organizing various artist in an art exhibition was a challenging yet fun experience. The way the concepts of such various artist mesh together is truly amazing. The challenge of this process was organizing the order of the artwork in an aesthetically pleasing fashion, however finding the right piece of art that matched the theme seemed to come natural. After this process I have a new gained respect for art curators. The job of curator is definitely a difficult one but it is also fun and creative. I found that many artist from many different eras have similar beliefs and ideas on what causes and exhibits true fear, and through this discovery I attempted to create a excellent example of fear caused and shown through artwork.