The Wretched Rainbow Exhibition

galleryexhibitionThe Wretched Rainbowportraiturestill lifephotography

Aug 13

For eight weeks (late October to December 1st, 2023), I created my first ever gallery exhibition entitled The Wretched Rainbow. The process had been fast-paced, exhilarating and humbling as I navigated through a variety of unique photoshoots, forks-in-the-road and learning new processes that will help me in future endeavors.

The Wretched Rainbow is a six piece photographic series that comments on the lack of usage of bold, vivid colors within the horror genre. Each photograph is a different color of the rainbow and a different dire theme.

Usually represented by neutral and dark color palettes, it is rare to see work from the horror realm utilize bright, vivid hues to illuminate cynical, mysterious emotions to audiences. The Wretched Rainbow showcases six different dire situations while highlighting multiple luminous colors of the rainbow. Generally when one imagines eerie circumstances, they seem to lurk in dimly lit places. However, danger takes place in many different scenarios, even broad daylight for all to witness. The Wretched Rainbow imagery does not hide within shadows, rather boasts its dreadfulness to unsuspecting viewers with bold, sinister pride. The collection showcases twisted versions of themes such as phobias, religious matters and mental health awareness.

The exhibition begs the questions; are some horrors kept in the shadows as a form of audience protection? Does well-lit ‘wretchedness’ leave more of an impact on witnesses than those left in the dark?

The creation of this piece was challenging but nonetheless very rewarding. Six separate photoshoots took place with four of them being collaborative.

For Twins of Terror [Red], I had the joy of working with RMCAD Alumnis Shylan Vance and Halle W. The two of them are absolutely fantastic models that brought amazing, free-flowing spirit to the shoot. The two completely understood the ‘clowncore’ assignment and it got to a point where their pure energy was directing the posing of the shoot in the best ways possible.

DAMNATION [Orange] was the only self-portrait included in this series. Since I do a lot of self-portraiture work, I was really trying to steer away from it within this exhibition. However, it made sense for at least one of the images to be done this way due to personal aesthetic and time restraints. The photograph in particular is inspired by lingering catholic guilt and the common fear of not knowing what comes after death.

For Lobotomy For Breakfast (Your Brain on Whorrorcore) [Yellow], I got to work with chef Bradley Spangler. He is an egg extraordinaire and helped with the object placement process by adding insightful feedback and suggestions. His attention to detail really tied the piece together and I am extremely appreciative to have worked with him. The piece is loosely related to the late 80’s anti-drug campaign video done by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and the normalization of lobotomies during the 1940s-1950s.

Gluttonous Greed [Green] was another collaborative piece in which I got to work with the lovely Shylan Vance again. Shy has modeled for me quite a few times at this point, but I feel as if this may be our best work together yet. They truly are an amazing creative force to work with and completely surrenders to art as a whole. Shy is a fantastic model, talented artist and overall amazing person to be around. Gluttonous Greed exudes a theme of wealth overindulgence.

Business Casual [Blue] is a piece in which I got to collaborate with my partner, Andrew Spangler. Andrew has been a vital behind-the-scenes support system for me over the past few years while earning my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. He is an extremely brilliant and kind soul that everyone adores due to his illuminating, selfless nature. I am thrilled that he volunteered to model for this project and he did a great job with posing, wardrobe and item collection to really bring this piece together. Substance Abuse and “Workaholic Syndrome" are the two main underlying themes of this photograph.

The final photograph of the series is Bruised Mary [Purple]. This was a solo-shot still-life piece created with a Mother Mary bust I had thrifted awhile back and adore taking images of. For this photograph, however, she is seen with what appears to be a ‘black-eye’ and very subtle cracks on her pure white face. She is surrounded by faux foliage and a dove with a broken beak peers behind her.

Opening Night took place on December 1st, 2023 at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design’s Mary Harris Auditorium in the Philip J Steele Gallery. There were an estimated two hundred people in attendance to enjoy the vast range of art created by the college’s senior class on their way to graduate later this year. A range of mediums were on display such as photography, illustration, large paintings, 3D works and more. The Fall Graduation Exhibition ran from December 1st, 2023 to January 12th, 2024.

Written 3.24.24 | Published 8.13.24