“Halloween is the night to showcase your creativity and playfulness and thus the perfect setting for a non-traditional gallery exhibition,” says Gallery Provocateur owner Veronika Kotlajic of the gallery’s upcoming Sweet Abominations Halloween show opening October 30. The annual show, dubbed ‘a celebration of the dark arts,’ will showcase works that range from “naughty and playful to evil and disturbing” just in time for the holiday.

Costumes are encouraged for those attending the opening cocktail reception on Saturday. Kotlajic says that the gallery’s patrons have become part of the show, turning it into “a living, breathing work of art and a truly magical event.”

The art that will be displayed features eerie and macabre images and includes “delightfully twisted” multi-media sculptures by Chris Guarino, steel sculptures by Benoit Polveche from Belgium, illuminated prints from David Normal, and a “vast array of haunting paintings and giclees” by artists such as Aunia Kahn and Bethalynne Bajema. The show will also feature Gothic artists Chad Savage and Charles Moesch, local favorites of the gallery.

Artist Myke Amend, who describes himself as “one of those creatures that go bump in the night,” will be showing works engraved on clayboard. He uses anything from paint to copper to film to stone to create his art, which he says most viewers would describe as creepy or spooky.

Amend says that his dark subject matter “seems inescapable” and that his favorites of his pieces are “ones that most people would be afraid to have hanging on their walls.” He’s glad that there are shows like these that feature like-minded artists, many of whom he knows and is looking forward to showing with. The holiday celebrates “horror and fear and those other forms of excitement,” as does a lot of the art that will be shown.

The Halloween exhibition, which Kotlajic has been curating for seven years, has always been the gallery’s most popular event and they receive hundreds of submissions each year for entry into the show. According to Kotlajic, this is the best one yet. The art is “unique [and] thought-provoking” and she “can guarantee that we have something that will appeal to everyone.”

“Everyone loves a good scare,” says Amend. “Having a Halloween show allows many others an excuse and a time to enjoy what the rest of us [artists] enjoy year round.”

Gallery Provocateur operates as a non-profit organization to lower the fees charged to the artists. There is no entry fee for guests, but donations are accepted and given to various charities. The space is not the “traditional sterile art gallery,” says Kotlajic, but instead features “Gothic/Romanesque” decor to “provide an intimate, relaxing setting.” As for the exhibitions, Kotlajic says “art has no limits or boundaries, and we try to show every expression possible.”

The opening cocktail reception for the Sweet Abominations show is from 8:00pm-midnight on October 30. Gallery Provocateur is located in the Congress Theater building at 2125 N. Rockwell St. Chicago, IL 60647.

by Lisa Klein