Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Cemetry Gates

Buffalo graphic artist Don Keller is having a cool art opening this Saturday (Oct 27th) at The Allen Street Hardware Store Cafe in Allentown, Buffalo, NY entitled Images of Horror and Imagination.

Don, a kindred spirit (my 1st advertising firm job @ Steve James Design- followed Don leaving...), who has always had a taste for the offbeat and sublime, offers some season-appropriate digital illustrations. Built in Illustrator and Photoshop-- printed on large 30 x 24-ish Epson archival paper-- the images are very graphic and haunting, starring classic horror characters/themes including "The Witch", "Nosferatu" and the "Bride" (of Frankenstein). The show will feature some of Don's pop-art images and some paintings as well.

Buffalonian's might immediately recognize some of the images which have appeared as Artvoice Halloween issue covers. The art, which has an airbrushed softness, is paired with a dark-edged starkness & bold colors. The Witch features an enchanted figure with rich red stringy hair, a soft green complexion and a small hint of cleavage-- there is usually a bit of sex in Don's work. Behind her are some unsettling faces floating under a glowing forest sky. Seeing these digital images at full size-- as compared to the small samples here or the standard AV cover-- will give many of them a possessing & creepy man-size scale.

The show opens this Saturday, October 27th (9:00 PM) with the exhibition continuing through Thanksgiving, 2007 at The Allen Street Hardware Store Cafe which is located at 245 Allen Street in Buffalo, NY (at the end, before the curve, across from Nietzsche's).

Bonus Beats: Don was one of our Living With Fame graphic artist interviews from way back when (flashback).

All images copyright ©2007 Don Keller.

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