Although Halloween has passed, some residual spookiness can still be found at Orange, a salon on Divisadero just past Fulton Street, where paintings by local artist Johnny Dismal have been on display for the past month (and will stay up for your viewing pleasure through the first week of December).
Dismal's show is a macabre tribute to little monsters and the weird, dark things they do. It’s actually a combination of pieces from two other shows, entitled “Things Monsters Do When They’re Not Busy Being Monsters” and “Little Shits”, plus several other works from his personal collection.
Originally from the Boston area, Dismal has been in San Francisco for over 14 years. Though he’s been painting all his life, he is also a musician whose band, called Horror X, is a psychobilly group that focuses on themes of death and horror. Dismal has also been in two other nationally touring bands, The Teenage Harlets and The Dirty Hand Family Band, and he designs posters for many of his and other musicians’ gigs.
When asked what's behind his artistic focus on monsters, he replied, “They’re adorable, they make me laugh.”
Dismal found interest in horror and the like at an early age. “I spent many years watching lots and lots of horror flicks. My brother made me watch them. I like to find humor and a sense of life in death,” he told us.
All the paintings are made using house paint and acrylic, with a gloss varnish applied over them. Pieces in this show range from $40 for the smaller ones to $2,000 for the large orange triptych on the wall. Called “Cash and his Monsters”, Dismal painted it for a friend who couldn’t afford to buy a painting that size, liked Johnny Cash, and really liked the color orange. The mid-size pieces range anywhere from $200 to $400. “I like to keep things affordable. I don’t want to insult people,” said Dismal.
“I love his art,” said Sonia Kominek-Adachi, a stylist at Orange. “I’ve been wanting to ask him to do something for a few years. I was kind of shy, since I only knew him through the music scene. I’m glad we finally asked him, since we were wanting to do something for Halloween.”
So if you’re looking to get a morbid but charming holiday gift for someone, swing by Orange in the next month or so and grab a Johnny Dismal original while they last. You can also email him directly at johnnydismal [at] yahoo [dot] com.
