Momento Mori-Oceanside Museum of Art-Featuring David Van Gough

I think any artist will tell you that opening shows feel like a brief bittersweet culmination. Lost in the whirlwind hubbub of meet and greeting, and word trifling, and back slappery, one rarely gets the chance to meditate in tranquility, the earnest ambiance of the voices on the wall, the months of travail that brought everything to this point.


Which is why it seems so fitting then, that what thus far has been my most prestigious showing, opened without the usual trappings of champagne embellishments. Of course, the champagne shall still flow on the 28th, in what will be not so much of a reception as a closing, but that this particular show is a testament to the celebration of 'The' ultimate end, seems somehow oddly apropos.


Some thoughts on the collection-putting aside my own modest contributions for the moment, I was struck by not just the quality of work by my fellow journeyman, but the thematic restraint of the exhibit.

With All Hallows looming, thankfully this is no descent into what could have been the easy quagmire of schlock horror.
Other than my own pieces of course, my standout favorite painting was a work entitled "Horns". by Dan Allen, but my compliments to all the artists involved, along with the sterling work performed by the curators and staff at the OMA.

Full details of the Art after Death event on the 28th to follow.