Recently, I was fortunate to be a part of pop culture history. In the
future, when we look at when Halloween masks made that jump from throwaway
novelty items to legitimate art, we will look to October 15, 2016. This
was the opening of The Art of the Halloween Mask exhibition at the Lethal
Amounts Gallery in downtown Los Angeles. I'd like to think my writing has
helped the cause, but this exhibition is what really did it.
This
show was the brainchild of artist Mikey Rotella, assisted by his girlfriend
Fatima Abuzaineh. Not only is Mikey an
extremely talented artist in his own right, but he is also passionate about
preserving the legacy of the Halloween mask in pop culture history. Above all else, I'm proud to call him a friend.
Mikey first mentioned the exhibition to
me in early March, when he put out the call to collectors and artists to join
in the show. There were to be two main
categories of display.
The
first was to feature the history of the Halloween mask, with displays
representing 3 important companies. Don
Post Studios, Distortions Unlimited, and Be Something Studios were selected for
their design work, as well as their place in history. All three of these companies produced designs
which inspired the artists of today in their own childhoods and continue to
inspire today.
The
second was to feature the current cream of the crop in the field of independent
artist collector masks. These artists
consisted of legendary Hollywood creature creators, FX artists, and the top artists
in the Halloween industry today. The
only restriction facing the artists was that it had to be a latex mask, given
the exhibition was paying respect to the tradition of latex mask making.
I
was far from alone in my enthusiasm for the event, although I think it would be
difficult for anyone to be more excited than I was. The public's response to the Don Post Studios
book showed there is a current interest in Halloween masks, and I knew Mikey
was the perfect person to spearhead a show like this. His work as a professional effects artist in
Hollywood connects him to the best artists in the field. Plus, being a collector himself, he has
access to a number of other collectors with decent collections. Ultimately though, to undertake the burden of
a task like this you need to have a genuine passion for it.
I
immediately offered up the use of anything in my collection. Over the months leading up to the show, Mikey
selected a number of items from my collection that he thought would be a good fit
for his vision. We also arranged to have
copies of the Don Post Studios book on hand.
Mikey had asked about the possibility of launching the Distortions
Unlimited book at the show, but there was no way we could have had it done in
time. Instead, my publisher and I
managed to get a preview chapter completed in time to be released in
conjunction with the opening. I kept in
regular contact with Mikey and was very impressed that his enthusiasm for the
show never faltered, no matter how stressful it had to be for him.
Finally,
the big day came and it was time to fly to Los Angeles. Our weather in October can be somewhat
unpredictable, but it is usually quite pleasant. Not this year. The day my flight was to depart, we were
pounded with a blizzard. It was very
slow going on the highway, but I left early and arrived at the airport in
plenty of time. Everything was fine
until approximately 1/2 hour before my flight was scheduled to depart. That was when they started announcing the
cancellations of flights. I was leaving
on Friday afternoon, and the show was Saturday evening so I didn't have a lot
of time to catch another flight. By the
time my flight was actually scheduled to depart, there were only two flights
leaving, albeit both were delayed.
Yes...this is only mid-October
That
brings me to my connection in Seattle. I had a 55 minute layover and my flight
was delayed by 45 minutes. Tight
squeeze, but I made it! I got to my gate
just as the line was boarding the plane.
I hopped in line, boarding pass in hand, swiped it, and the red lights
went off. They pulled me aside and advised
me that they didn't think I was going to make it in time, so they gave my seat
away and rebooked me on a later flight.
Thanks Delta! I tried to use
logic and reason with them that I had paid for a seat on this flight and was
here on time, so if anyone should be getting punted to the next flight, it
should be the person they gave my seat to.
They refused (thanks again, Delta) and gave me my boarding pass for the
next flight which was 4 hours later. I spent
the first hour thinking of how I could have handled the gate agent differently
and gotten on my flight. I came up blank,
so I refocused my energy on reviewing the preview chapter that my designer had
sent me via Dropbox. getting my preview
chapter with a number of ideas, all of which
would have resulted in me had four hours to think I was able to use some of the
time to make a few minor corrections on my designer's layout of the Distortions
Preview Chapter.
I
finally arrived in Los Angeles, only to spend over 40 minutes on the tarmac. Nobody's fault, but the computers that
generated the paperwork for planes to leave were down, so the gates were full
of flights that couldn't depart. While
waiting, I received a text notification from Delta. Remember that flight they wouldn't let me on
back in Seattle? Well they still put my
luggage on that flight, so I had to track it down at LAX. Thanks yet again Delta! Finding and catching the shuttle bus to the
hotel was quick and easy and I made it to my hotel, only 5 hours late.
A
good night's sleep and the big day was upon us!
I went down to the hotel restaurant and had a big breakfast, not knowing
when I would get to eat next. I had just
gotten back to my room when I received a text from Ed and Marsha Edmunds,
inviting me to join them for breakfast as they were at the same hotel. I head back down and find out they were
seated just on the other side of the little privacy divider from where I was. Had I known, I could have used my spoon as a catapult
to lay siege to the Edmunds table which would be defenseless against my barrage
of little potato pieces. I know Ed would
not surrender and I would be forced to cope with incoming sausage and scrambled
eggs. I also know Marsha would pretend
to not know either of us.
Before
long, my friend and fellow collector Glenn Burtis arrived to chauffer us on our
day. Our first stop was Creature
Features in Burbank. I had brought a few masks for Glenn and he gave
me the cash as we were driving. My
wallet didn't quite fit into my pocket as we were driving so I figured I'd just
fix it after we stopped. If you expected
me to actually remember to do that, I thank you for your faith in me. Unfortunately, it's quite misplaced. I did realize my wallet was missing as we were
walking through Creature Features and quickly ran back to the car to get it. Nope...not in the car. As panic is setting in, I get down on all fours
and start crawling around the parking lot, looking under the car. I noticed there was another man standing in
the parking lot, giving me a funny look.
I assumed he was unaccustomed to seeing middle aged men crawling around
in parking lots. I briefly wondered if I
had scarred his psyche. The thought
amused me, giving me brief respite from the panic that was beginning to set in.
Finally, he approached me and asked me
my name. Every fiber of my being wanted
to use a pseudonym, but the only name I could think of was Juanita and I knew
he would never buy that. So I told him,
and admit I was overcome with relief when he handed me my wallet. I never got his name, but I am extremely
grateful for his honesty.
Creature
Features was great as always. I spent a bit
of time talking with the owner, Taylor White, about my upcoming books and
discussing some ways we could involve Creature Features. As I was browsing in the store, I thought to
myself that the last time I was there, my friend Guy Thorpe had stopped
in. Within 2 minutes, Guy walked in the
front door. I thought that was really
neat. The timing worked out well as
there was a Bernie Wrightson exhibit in the gallery section of the store. As a Wrightson fan, I thoroughly enjoyed every single piece in the
exhibit, although his Frankenstein work has a special place in my heart. I noticed two pieces in the exhibit were
produced by another friend, Matt Cable.
Approximately 5 minutes later, Matt comes in the front door with his
young daughter. It was good to see them
both, especially since neither of them would be able to make the gallery
opening that night. I began to wonder if
I had somehow tapped into fate, with two random friends walking into the store
minutes after I thought about them. I
thought of Maria Sharapova and watched the door for the next several
minutes. Sadly, I had apparently not tapped
into fate.
Look what I found at Creature Features!
The
next few hours were spent browsing the shops on Magnolia (including
Halloweentown of course), then lunch at Bob's Big Boy. A quick pit stop back at the hotel for Ed to get
changed, and we were on our way downtown in LA traffic which wasn't as bad as I
had feared. We were fortunate to find a
spot in the parking lot across the street.
Not bad for LA traffic.
Standing
outside the gallery, I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning who had
just come down the stairs to see a pile of gifts waiting for him. Mikey came out to greet us and give us our
wristbands. I was glad to see he didn't
appear the slightest bit stressed out or overwhelmed. In fact, he looked just as excited as I felt
that the big night was finally here. I
wondered if I looked that excited, but the thought was fleeting as I was now able
to go inside.
Mikey didn't charge for the photo-op.
The
first thing that struck me was a huge video screen playing clips of old home
movies and video taken at Distortions Unlimited back in the 1980s. It was also impossible to miss the Halloween-themed
music pumping throughout the entire gallery.
Over the course of the evening I noticed that the DJ's playlist
contained a lot of obscure, yet fun, songs that I have on my own. I was also pleasantly surprised that the volume
was perfect. It was loud enough you
could always hear and enjoy it, yet I never found myself having to try and talk
over it.
On
the right hand side, immediately as you enter, you have four photographs by
Caitlin Novak featuring masks sculpted by Ed Edmunds, Justin Mabry, and Pete
Infelise. All great masks and Caitlin's
photography did them justice. In front
of them was a day-glo witch by John Pinkerton.
Beyond
those was the Distortions Unlimited exhibit.
The exhibit consisted of two rows of masks. The top row were all golden age classic
Distortions masks from the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The bottom row consisted of the Resurrection
Classics line which were updated versions of all the top masks. Jordu Schell was responsible for this
display, not only loaning his vintage masks but also being the sculptor of the
Resurrection Series.
Beyond
those was a pair of extremely rare and valuable masks to come out of Distortions. The first was the HR Giger designed Alien on
loan from my friend Dirk Smith, which is the most valuable Distortions mask available
if you can find a copy. The second is
the mask of Jack Nicholson from The Shining, on loan from yours truly, which
was a private commission limited to only three copies.
There
were a number of fantastic high end masks on their own pedastals in the front
section of the gallery by artists such as Wayne Anderson, Jordu Schell, and
Kristin Philips.
On
the left hand wall was a collection of vintage Be Something Studios masks on
loan from Mikey's personal collection, along with a few needlepoint renditions
of BSS masks by BSS sculptor Bill Ystrom's daughter, Amy. It was especially neat when Bill Ystrom showed
up.
In
front of the BSS display, was Justin Mabry's 7' version of the Jack Davis
Frankenstein
Underneath
the video screen was a set of 6 glass cases. The two innermost cases contained
the masks of the Halloween films. The
left case contained the factory finished Captain Kirk and modified Michael
Myers version that were finished by Rob Tharp for Don Con in November of 2015
and ended up in my personal collection.
There was a current Myers mask produced by Justin Mabry also in the
cabinet. The right case contained an original set of Don Post Studios Halloween
III masks.
The
two cabinets flanking the Halloween movie masks were dedicated to the 1966
Calendar Masks. In addition to original calendars with both variant covers, the
cabinets also had Mummy and Creature masks finished as replicas of the calendar
photos. I had loaned these to the exhibit
as well along with the December 1964 issue of Genii magazine which contained
the advertisement that was the world's first look at the calendar masks. Unfortunately, space constraints prevented it
from being included in the exhibit.
The
cabinets on the far left and right contained original copies of all eight Don
Post Studios 800 line masks sculpted by Pat Newman and released in 1967.
Speaking
of Pat Newman, one of the highlights of the exhibit was a painting of Pat
Newman by Mark Tavares. He called it "The
Queen of Plastiline", which was how Verne Langdon referred to her.
In
the second section of the gallery, I saw something that completely blew me
away. Amongst all these fantastic pieces of art by so many talented artists was
a two tier display case. In the bottom
was the Don Post Glenn Strange calendar mask that was used as the cover model
for the Don Post book, and in the top case was my book. I know you're going to read this Mikey, and I
want you to know you really made my day by including my work as a display
piece.
There
were two pieces by Norm Cabrera in the exhibit that I have to mention. The first was his Demonwulf 1981 mask. I think it could have easily been another of
the Nazi Demons in An American Werewolf in London. The name of his other mask escapes me as I'm
writing this, however it has the distinction of being one of two masks that
have ever given me the creeps (Tom Spina's Chaney Mummy is the other in case
you're wondering). Just looking at that
mask you really felt it looking back at you.
There
were a few cabinets of 1970s Don Post masks on loan from Bob Parigi and also from
Mikey's collection. Joining them was an
updated version of Bob Short's Coridian Alien that he did in the '70s, calling
it the Coridian Elder. I've said it
before and I'll say it again. Of all the
brilliant masks on display, that's the one I would have most liked to bring
home.
Then
again, it would have been hard to say no to the trio supplied by David
Smith. The Lab Chimp is a new addition, but the Bat and Frankenstein are
two designs I've come to think of as iconic in the indie artist mask
world. These were both originally
produced in the mid '80s under David's Stroke of Midnight Studios label. They were again released by Death Studios, as
Nightmare and Creature, in the mid '90s. The finishing on these copies was just
astounding. David had been posting
progress photos showing the finishing step-by-step on Instagram leading up to
the show. I'm still in awe when I look
at these.
On
the wall above the David Smith masks were two paintings by Louie Becker, one of
the classic Shock Monster and another collage of vintage and modern classics
from Be Something Studios, Don Post Studios, Distortions Unlimited, and Death
Studios.
Going
back to the wall above the '70s Don Post masks, there was a quartet of
masterpieces hanging amongst some beautiful mask related art. There were three pieces by the uber-talented
Casey Love, namely Alien Dead, People Eater, and Parasite. Topping off the
quartet was an absolutely stunning witch by Mike Fontaine. If you're starting to get seasick with all
the bouncing from one wall to the other, that's exactly how it was. Every time you turned around there was
something amazing ahead of you that you just had to go see.
I
can't forget to mention Jon Fuller had a pair of amazing creations on display
as well.
On
both walls of the gallery as you entered the second section of the gallery were
Caleb Oglesby's Monster Girls portraits.
Those of you who have been clamoring for a Monster Girls book will be
glad to know I grilled Caleb on the very question of whether there would be a
book on the horizon. I'm extremely pleased to let you all know that the answer
is a definite maybe.
Speaking
of upcoming books, Steve Wang was there with five of the paint masters for his Biomorphs
line from the early 2000s. Steve's such
a talented artist and a wonderful person. I'm really looking forward to writing the book
about him and his career.
Before
I get to Steve's book, I have to finish the book on the life and career of Eric
Pigors who also had a really clever art piece at the show. He had the ideal spot for display, right next
to the bar! Speaking of the bar, I have
to acknowledge our bartender for the evening, Eric's friend Justine Goregeous. She was on her own and did an amazing job
considering the vast crowds that came through and, believe me, everybody was
thirsty!
My photo was taken from too far away, so I had to steal this from Eric. Shhhh...
After
about an hour of mingling, it was time for some business. Ed, Marsha, Fong Sam
(my publisher), and I all went to the Thai restaurant a few doors down to have
a meeting about the upcoming Distortions book.
It was a great meeting, very productive. Apparently it was while I was at this meeting
that Maria Sharapova came to the gallery looking for me as someone as Creature
Features told her I'd be there.
Overall,
the evening was a great time. I got to spend
some time with old friends as well as some new ones. I got to meet some artists I look up to. I even got to finally sign a book for
Mikey! There were some folks there I
would have loved to meet, but our paths just didn't cross.
I
can't wrap up without recognizing Danny Fuentes, the owner of Lethal Amounts, and
thanking him for his assistance and letting my publisher sell copies of the Don
Post book at the gallery during the exhibition.
I'm allowed a shameless plug...or two.
I
left the gallery around midnight and got back to the hotel by 1. After a few sad goodbyes to Glenn, Ed, and Marsha,
it was off to bed for a few hours sleep.
I was up bright and early to finish packing and grab some breakfast
before making the uneventful journey home.
I arrived home just before midnight and was left to wonder if the whole
weekend had been a dream.
One last photo at the hotel.
There
could not be any shadow of a doubt in the minds of anyone that was there that
the event was a resounding success.
Mikey, along with Fatima, deserve thanks from the entire mask community.
This show was far more than a mere
gallery opening. It was a new high water
mark in the industry as the work of so many talented artists was finally being
recognized as fine art. Pop culture history
was made that night, and I'm grateful to have been a small part of it.
Have to include this one of Mikey with his awesome Ice Monkey
