What doesn’t kill you

0″ x 12″-Oil on panel

Given that this is my umpteenth work this year to feature some sort of death motif, ought to give you an indication of how I’m feeling about everything.

This one particularly is about the relentless (bastard) disease of cancer which I’ve tackled twice in my work before- the first time in ‘Mothers Milk’ and secondly as a homage to a friend in ‘Legacy-an artist general truth’

This one may seem a lot less po-faced, even pop surreal I suppose, but no less vitriolic, particularly when I recall the two family members, the friend, and the idol lost in its ruthless wake this past year.

The Big ‘C’ is like a plague one dare not say fully, for fear of  invoking a death sentence, it’s there a lurking, malevolent, silent, conspiracy of the bodies betrayal, a festering paranoia in every breath you inhale.

I wanted to evoke some of that in this piece which will be part of a special group show called simply ‘Cancer’ at Hyaena Gallery from October 1st through October 30th.

Crossing the Abyss on BlumHouse

“David Van Gough… I’m such a fan of his work. He’s in the upper echelon of what’s not being seen out there.”

That’s a quote from Bill Shafer of Hyaena Gallery, with some very kind words to Blumhouse, about myself and the other artists featured in last months Crossing the Abyss showcase. Blumhouse of course, are the brilliant movie stable, responsible for some of the best Horror movies of the past ten years-Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, and Sinister to name a few, so it is a huge honor.

You can see the full interview, along with other art from the show from the following link.

CROSSING THE ABYSS FEATURED ARTICLE

Crossing the Abyss at Hyaena Gallery

The last time I was at Hyaena was for my Man/son show in 2012-so my return there has been long overdue.Which is apt because ‘Crossing the Abyss’ is themed as “A return to the Dark in the most emblematic American place”  and I am beyond honored to be included amongst what is an internationally renowned retinue, that includes Christopher Ulrich, Clint Carney, Steven Vincent Mitchell, David Van Gough, Laurent Fièvre, Scott Holloway, Dave MacDowell, David Anthony Migitis, and one Bernie Wrightson.

Bernie of course, is the legendary master of the macabre that enlivened my childhood with the dark panels of Creepy and created what I think is the definitive illustrated Frankenstein. I believe him to be the Gustav Dore of my generation, and so it is a huge privilege to be hanging on the same wall as him and my compatriots.

Don’t miss this show if you are in the LA area.

Hyaena Gallery
1928 W Olive Ave
Burbank, California

Opening reception, Saturday September 12th-8:00pm-11:00pm

Man/son Bizarre Bazaar

Finally bagged myself a copy courtesy of my daughter-Bad Vibes and Something Witchy sharing column space in an article about Serial Killers. Splendid.

Newcomers whose interest was piqued enough to make it thus far-Most Welcome!! For the uninitiated, the Cliff notes are as follows...

My insidious study of sinister architecture surrounding the Manson case culminated in a month of frenzied activity for the Man/son and the haunting of the American Madonna show, which ran during October 2012 at Hyaena Gallery in LA. 

It was an undertaking borne in the mouth of madness,and by the end I was frazzled from dancing with dark forces and could hear Charlies grizzled voice in my sleep.

 The full gallery's for the show can be found on my website: 

http://davidgoughart.com/Manson_gallery.html 

Those paintings, plus my crazed meanderings are noted for posterity in a book entitled Rise-which was released February last year and can be purchased from the following:

http://davidgoughart.com/Art_Books/Rise-Manson.php

The pieces are to be featured in a forthcoming documentary entitled Serial Killer Culture, which premiered in Chicago recently, and shall be streaming on Netflix soon-trailer below, details to follow:



I also did a podcast to discuss the series last year which you can listen to here:

Upon a midnight dreary podcast

I think that's about the size of it, but you are welcome to stick around,there's bigger and better things to come.

Permanent fixture at Hyaena Gallery (for now.)

I was reminded by a link on my news feed today, that along with some fine Art prints-you can still see some of the original pieces from Octobers Man/son show at Hyeana, including the pivotal painting-'Healter Skelter' (below)
Check out the link or contact myself or Hyaena if you are interested in purchasing any of the available work.

http://hyaenagallery.com/davidvangough.html

John Borowski's Serial Killer Culture

As a general rule of 'dumb', I will not post prospective news, unless it's a 'shoo in' or already out there. Happily, this latest-and not inconsiderable dent in the wall-could fall under either category, as a short time ago, I was invited to contribute some "face time" to a forthcoming documentary by John Borowski entitled 'Serial Killer Culture'.

 Aficionados of such esoterical study, may know Johns several other titles such as H.H Holmes, Carl Panzram and Albert Fish, several of which are mainstays over on Netflix (so check them out)

John Borowski Netflix

His latest project seems no less comprehensive, a veritable dissection of psychopathic devotees, and over several hours-and quite fittingly at Hyaena gallery-I discussed last Octobers Man/son show, my theories about the case, Sinister Architecture, and a number of other 'bumf'. My prattlings shall be accompanied by fellow artisans of the stature of Joe Coleman, Crawlspace Bros,Hart Fisher, Rick Staton and my fellow Hyaena stablemate-Clint Carney.

Come what may, and though I am not present yet, do watch the preview trailer below, and bookmark the website HERE

Bad Vibes: The Devils Business by David Van Gough

"I'm the Devil, here to do the Devils business." With those words, Tex Watson scatter-shot the oncoming carnage at Cielo Drive with diabolical import.

Tex-who like Susan Atkins-would conveniently find God in the cold concrete realities of a State penitentiary 6" x 8".
Tex, whose parole would be advocated by Susan Struthers, the daughter of the slain La Bianca's.

But that was later. There were grander forces at play in Tex's telemetry before Cielo Drive.

Several hundred years of bad vibes "man",sacred geometry's, archaic symbols, clandestine orders, dark intentions, threads colliding and colluding on the psychic human tapestry, to form the foundations of a sinister architecture.

Or in the words of Manson...


"From the world of darkness, I did loose demons and devils in the power of scorpions to torment."





The Man/son show runs until the 31st October at Hyaena Gallery, Burbank CA.  

The Death of the '60's by David Van Gough

 

"There was something horrible permeating the air in LA in those days. The stench of Manson and the Sharon Tate murders." 
David Bowie talking about living in LA in the 1970's

August 9th 1969. It was meant to be the dawning of the Age of Aquarius....the final median before the new decade.Two weeks on, the grainy spectacle of the Moon landings still resonated, mollifying the shadow of Vietnam and two dead Kennedy's. It was also the anniversary of Nagasaki*, as well as the birth date of Ed Gien. Two disparate moments, connected by a thread no less devastating in its repercussion.

For whilst the events at 10050 Cielo Drive that night, paled when measured against the true horror of 80,000 deaths, the fallout that radiated from the bloody carve up of a pregnant celebrity and her three friends was a secession on the hedonism of the decade, farther reaching in the collective conscious (or conscience) of America's fucked up tapestry, than any atom bomb.
The dawning of the new age was ritualized with the blood of an innocent.

That's the true travesty of Manson legacy, the true infallible obscenity, a decade christened by a faux slain Madonna and her unborn infant.

The 70's stillborn. 

There could only be ashes beyond.

* for those wanting to pursue further Occult significance around the date, the flag from Nagasaki is the five pointed star, with five hermetic crosses in the center.


The Man/son show runs until the 31st October at Hyaena Gallery, Burbank CA.  

Man/Son preview night on Cartwheelart

Saturday was the official opening night of the Man/son showcase, and was easily my most successful show to date. I could give you all a full account, except the wonderful people at Cartwheelart have done it so much more eloquently than I could. Thank you Lisa at Cartwheel, thank you Hyaena, thank you Dahlia Jane who looked incredible in her Manson dress especially made for the occasion, and thank you everyone who came out and supported me.

Cartwheelart article

Paul is Dead by David Van Gough

Around the time the Beatles were supposedly seeding there waxings and sleeve artwork with messages that one of their number was deceased, Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski conceived a child who would be named Paul.

Had Sharon been hastily Cesarianed-as Sadie ghoulishly considered- Paul Polanski might have been born as an offering for Charlies Collective.

Paul Polanski,  an infant spawned of sacrifice and ceremony like Rosmary's baby, a lion cub born of Jupiter like one of Crowleys moonchildren birthed in ritualized blood, a pupae that could be imprinted as a Monarch for the new dawn.

Paul would have been forty three years of age this year had he lived. What kind of life would be brought to consciousness by a baptism of slaughter and fire, I wonder? What kind of Man?

A son of man?

A son of Manson?


The Man/son show runs from the 1st-31st October at Hyaena Gallery, Burbank CA. Opening 6th October 8pm-12am  

Pig by David Van Gough

It was the doorway of a new perception, a doorway to carnage, smeared with Sharons blood the word "Pig"-a welcome matt, a single label pronouncement that could have come courtesy of Orwell's Animal farm.

On the fag end of the 60's, Police, politicians and squares were pigs.  If you were the man, you were a pig. Tricky Dicky was most certainly a pig. And to Charlie's far out assassins, Sharon and her four friends, with there beauty and privileged Hollyweird lifestyle, were pigs of the lowest order,ripe for the butchers knife.

 I wonder if Atkins knew she was conjuring allusions to the pregnant Egyptian Goddess, Neuth as she daubed the letters on the door with her blood stained towel. I wonder if she knew it signaled a ritual passage for a birth of a new dark age.

Sharon's new role, sacrificial Mondo Goddess haunting the vacant B-movie lots. Sharon as Eve and the rotten Apple record. Sharon as Aphrodite from the succulent fruit of Dionysus. Sharon as an adolescent artist's muse, a phantom sex symbol of flickering white porcelain for the late night double feature. Sharon as dead Madonna and child castrating the 70's like Adonis's boar, a limp tail curled like the number six, like a semaphore.

We are the pigs, for the threshold beyond the bloody epitaph makes a narcissist of us all.


The Man/son show runs from the 1st-31st October at Hyaena Gallery, Burbank CA. Opening 6th October 8pm-12am 

Healter Skelter by David Van Gough

"When I get to the bottom I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and I turn and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again."

The twists and turns of Helter Skelter, led Bugolosi into the hall of mirrors, one which he saw himself reflected,forging a lucrative new career writing the most successful 'true' crime fiction novel ever. 

Helter Skelter-or Healter Skelter as it was written in blood on La Bianca's Freezer, a killer's catchphrase to hang with the shopping lists, postcards and fridge magnets.

"Listen" asks Bugolosi cupping his ear to the ground...Intoned in McCartneys raw vocals, in the shredding guitars, was the Devil unleashed? 
Was he? 
Was this song Charlies Catcher in the Rye, an inferno of annihilation embedded in-between the first note and Ringo's blistered fingers, composed to awaken the Mansonian candidate.  

Helter Skelter coming down.

He(a)lter Skelter-recapitulated. 
Easter Hell Trek
Hell retake rest
Lethal Seer Trek  
You begin to sound like Bugolosi.

And yet...and yet,at the base of the downward spiral,in the labyrinth of tunnels beneath Laurel Canyon, echoed in the coyote howls of Death valley, or in the hollow of native Indian bones beneath, or scrawled in the bloody epiphets of  victims blood, lies something dormant. A specter that stains the ether beyond the hallucinogenic haze. A dark totem constructed of ritual murder, ancient orders and corrupt organizations.

And when I get to the bottom there is her-Sharon Tate, the disfigured goddess, eternal mother of the stars,leading me back to the top again, the questions swirling as I go around and around the serpent again to the tail,stoking the fires of hell.

The hell of Helter Skelter.



The Man/son show runs from the 1st-31st October at Hyaena Gallery, Burbank CA. Opening 6th October 8pm-12am

Man/Son: the Haunting of the American Madonna-a series by David Van Gough

Here it is, the full measure of the Man/Son showcase, a months work -the culmination of a years research, of which seven of the pieces were completed in two weeks. I've sworn never to undertake such a task again.

For all its hardship, there have been revelations for me, the revelation that convinces me that dark evil forces exist and are perpetuated by powers with sinister agenda's.That the connections around the Manson case are unfathomable and have far reaching implications not just on our lives, but on a level that defies understanding. That for all our supposition to the contrary, this so called modern world is imposed by a dark ancient will, that uses ritual murder, arcane rites,symbols and talisman, sinister architecture and sacred geometry. 
That mostly, this path I was on wasn't just the search for clues in a detective story, but a spiritual one, seeking a sense of reason in the harrowing chaos, pivoted on the gruesome killing of a beautiful woman and her unborn child.

This is the heart of the Man/son and the haunting of the American Madonna.

 

Bad Vibes
24" x 36"
Mixed media

 Something Witchy
11" x 14"
Oil on canvas

 

War
16" x 20"
Oil on canvas

God of Fuck
11" x 14"
Oil on canvas

Healter Skelter
24" x 36"
Oil on canvas

 

Pig
16" x 20"
Oil on canvas

  

Rise
30" x 40"
Oil on canvas

Paul is Dead
11" x 14"
Oil on canvas

 

Death and the Maiden
11" x 14"
Oil on canvas

Death of the 60's
11" x 14"
Oil on canvas

Man/Son Press release

Hyaena Gallery Presents:

MAN/SON and the Haunting of the American Madonna

Oil Paintings by David Van Gough

October 1 through October 31

Opening Reception: Saturday, October 6, 8 pm to 12 am

 

Hyaena Gallery

1928 W. Olive Ave.

Burbank, CA 91506

hyaenagallery.com

Bill Shafer, Director

info@hyaenagallery.com

Artist Website: http://davidgoughart.com

On Saturday, October 6, David Van Gough reveals a dark new series inspired by one of Los Angeles' most enduring and infamous villains.  From Aleister Crowley to Charles Manson, Liverpool to LA, MAN/SON explores an artistic evocation of America's occult underbelly.  Taking cues from the bloody epithet's left at the crime scenes, and associated key phrases, the series draws upon his own year-long research into what he terms as sinister architecture, conspiracy, clandestine rituals, magic symbols and the tragic muse-Sharon Tate, recapitulated as the American Madonna and child.

Artist Statement:  

Growing up in Liverpool in the 70's was akin to living in a forgotten town.
The golden gate to the new frontier that had been the shipyards lay dormant.  The modern tenements that had been constructed on the promises of post-war zeal two decades earlier, now lay in ruin.
And the Beatles had disbanded in 1970.
Yet they were still ubiquitous.  The chorus of moptop's echo on every wireless was Liverpool's swansong.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in California, time had been called on the Sixties.  And a dreadful pall hung over the subsequent era like an incomprehensible epitaph: Helter Skelter and the Manson Murders.
Back in my Liverpool bedroom overlooking Anfield cemetery, a few yards from the railway line where four year old Jamie Bulger would be murdered by two boys in the mid 1980's, I was immersed in the subculture of fantagoria -- Hammer Horror, Dennis Wheatley, Man,Myth and Magic -- little realizing that terrible events in an affluent suburb of LA, and a song by Liverpool's favorite sons, were intertwined with Friday night Horror staples such as Rosemary's Baby and The Fearless Vampire Killers.
In my journey, there have been threads that go beyond mere happenstance, symbols and ciphers that are window dressing for something profound and dark beneath. In commencing then with the new series, utilizing the tragic muse and slain Madonna figure of Sharon Tate as a symbol for an endpoint, there was a need to relate and process that which is beyond understanding.
Peter Levenda's words in Sinister Forces Book III sum it up for me, "...for the occultist-there is truly "no such thing as coincidence," or more accurately, that coincidence is a clue that deeper connections exist between observable phenomena, that another force of nature is at work that we don't understand."

The MAN/SON series seeks to make sense of those fatal events of 1969, and what I have come to term as sinister architecture.

Artist Biography:

Working out of San Diego, David Van Gough is an oil painter who strives to expose the darkest recesses of the human spirit on canvas.  A self-proclaimed necrorealist, Van Gough grew up steps from a cemetery in gritty Liverpool.  Tormented throughout his life by Catholic guilt, mortality and paranoia, his paintings are fevered exorcisms, which comment upon both the futileness and poignancy of the universal human condition.

Gough was the Honoree Artist of 2010 at the San Diego Art Institute.  In 2009, Gough was published in the book Gothic Art Now.  In 2011 Darq Matter Publishing released Gough's collection of fine art and essays D3ad/Ends. He has exhibited at San Diego Art Institute, Oceanside Museum of Art, The Hive Gallery, Alexander Salazar Fine Art, Alternative Café, Mosaic Gallery, and Thumbprint Gallery.

Publicity contact for more information, interviews, high resolution images:

Dahlia Jane Upon a Midnight Dreary

847-712-2688

dahliaj@ymail.com   uponamidnightdreary.com

Hell to Skelter

It peaked 106° here on Friday, at least outside-in the studio I've been running a fever-a temperature akin to the lava flow of a volcano on the surface of Mercury. I've been living, eating and breathing the work. 

I wake up and go to sleep with it percolating in my brain, to the point were I've lost all objectivity on whether what I am doing is good anymore. I look at the work lined up at various stages of finish and I think it is-at least I hope it is-for Sharon Tate at least. 

A good friend in a similar storm, said something like that in such circumstances, one should supplant the concept for any finnesse, and as much as I try to remind myself that I am trying to accomplish in a month, something that should have taken me ten, it niggles at me as much as the nest of ants that I stem around the sugar bowl, daily.

Press release goes out tomorrow, I believe, a week to deadline and all will be revealed. In the meantime above is another detail teaser of the Healter Skelter piece.

Last days of Summer

It's over a month away, and I just took a week off the grid camping in Utah, playing at polygamy, hiking the kind of terrain the Mars rover would photograph,and drinking warm three percent proof wine on warmer night's. 
It's a dry state in a dry climate, only one liquor store we could find, nestled at the back of a gift store,selling native Indian tat made in China.  
Yet there in the valley, surrounded by the austere crag of Saints, its a place that seems mired in ancient forces,the turbulent hum beneath the ground of fossilized spirits and forgotten rites.

Or perhaps it was just the heat, and the grimoire's I was reading? 

When heat hits the high nineties, people get crazy-maybe that's why it's a draw for the congregation of the latter day's, the way the heat feeds the madness and maybe after Utah, hell seems like a Roman bath house. 

Going to have to be off the grid a bit longer-find my religion,the draw of other spirits, other rites, the easel, the artery to Samhain...a sabbatical for the sabbath.
The heat is on, and  September is around the corner, so I shall see you all on more temperate nights....sooner or later.

Manson Show at Hyaena gallery in October.

Further to my previous post, I am delighted to reveal that I shall be showing my Manson/Tate themed works at the wonderful Hyaena gallery from October 1st, until October 31st, with an opening on the 6th. 

Which means that between now and then, I'll be firmly ensconced in my continuing research as well as realizing the pieces for the show. 

Part of the reason that my sister blog-one hundred and fifty Cielo drive-has been on hiatus is because I'll be revisiting my Liverpool hometown in July, which will take me to some places of interest-Hitlers presumed haunts, architectural sites, as well as the obligatory Lennon routes. At this stage, I'm not sure if the showcase will include just the paintings, or my research notes and journals, but I do foresee a possible book to tie it all together at a later date.

Ghost of Medusa at Haeyna

This painting is from 2010,a metaphorical Fin de siècle for everything I'd done up until that point, and I debuted it once at my featured show at Alternative Cafe that same year. 

Which is why I am delighted to announce that it will be part of the ongoing collection at L.A's Hyaena Gallery-fast becoming one of my favorite venues in the city, showcasing as it does the work of some stellar contemporaries and an etching by one Albrecht Durer.

I am honored to be in such company.