A Dark Saturday Night of Art at J.E.T. Studios and Hyaena Gallery

Upon first sight, ’s wide-open doors and bright white lights are inviting. But when I stepped into the gallery last Saturday for the opening of Art Noir, the seemingly happy exterior scene gave little warning of the exhibition’s delightfully dark subject matter.  

Norwegian artist Torgheir “Thor” Ensud’s works are the first to greet you at the door. His sinister scenes conjur up images of the dark arts, meetings of secret societies and quick glances into nightmares. Passing through the hallway, Spike Dolomite’s morbidly humorous comics briefly brighten up the mood – cartoons like “Edgar Allan Poe’s dad reads a bedtime story” shed a funny light on what childhood may have been like for the gothic writer.

As you move further down the hall, you see Ray Cabarga’s Dali-esque “Inked Oozings,” a collection of works in which each painting appears as if they were windows into Hades. Imagine being ferried through the underworld surrounded by a spectrum of colors that seem to be an off-kilter version of a rainbow, and along the ride seeing the faces of unsettled souls blending into each other as a beautiful work of art. You get the sense of an inner turmoil spilling onto a canvas, as if to tell viewers it’s time to face their demons.

Towards the back of the gallery, Alex Ruiz’s digital illustrations of Earth’s apocalypse at the hands of intergalactic invaders does little to assure artgoers that everything will be alright after all. Larger-than-life, H.R. Giger-inspired spaceships hover over Egypt in one painting, while Disneyland meets its unhappy doom in another.

The gallery’s Occupy USA photo exposé, which was also unveiled Saturday, is an interesting juxtaposition against the darkness of Art Noir: our world’s imminent end in Ruiz’s works are seen opposite images of American veterans, students and the unemployed protesting their country’s current financial, economical and political state. 

It may not be a far stretch to say the two exhibits could be applied to one another - perhaps Sandy Parson's reprint of her 2009 6’ x 8’ collage titled “ONE” emotionally prepares viewers for what they're about to see next as they turn the corner back into the hall. Her colorful and chaotic mural layers words, politics and imagery of war onto a giant canvas, and it sets the tone for the sentiments that sparked the Occupy movement in the first place.

Alongside the images of the 99 percent is gallery director and curator Daniel Debevoise's striking photograph of anti-war protesters in the '70s. It reminds us that history isn't always in the past, and that we could learn a lesson or two from the books.

My next stop of the night was Hyaena Gallery in Burbank, where I met up with friends at the opening reception for artist Jason Voss. I was also a first-time visitor to , and it had my inner Siouxsie & the Banshees- and Bauhaus-loving high school goth squeal with delight (or rather, dance broodingly around in circles with my arms flailing).

Oddly enough, Hyaena's gothic, low-brow art served as a picker-upper for the night. Voss' subjects may have been undead, but at least they seemed to be loving it.

Art Noir runs until Jan. 22, 2012 at JET Studios, 5126 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Gallery hours are from 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and from noon to 2 p.m. Sundays.

The art of Jason Voss is on display until Dec. 15 at Hyaena Gallery, 1928 W. Olive Ave., Burbank. Gallery hours are from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. The gallery is closed Mondays.