Boogey men make Friday the 13th visit to Jazzbones

Photo Courtesy of Holland Hume

DIABOLICAL LAUGHTER. “Culmination of Childhood Fears” by Holland Hume is one version of “the boogey man” done by a dozen different artists for Artifakt’s “Boogey Man Art Show” at Jazzbones Nov. 13.

In the household folklore of most families, there is mention of the “boogey man,” a name around which the fears of children coagulate – especially since parents often voice the warning that “the boogey man will get you if you don’t watch out.” As a thing that has no specific appearance, the boogey man is imagined in various ways by different individuals.

Local arts promoter Matt Eklund – in his capacity as chief of the Tacoma branch of the Seattle-based arts group Artifakt – decided to acknowledge the November day of ill omen, Friday the 13th, by calling local artists to depict their version of the boogey man. The result was a one-night-only show held at Jazzbones Nov. 13 with musical entertainment by Mad Rad. Called “The Boogey Man Art Show,” the event was an artistic double dare to venture forth on a day of ill fortune and view depictions of an infamous being.

Reds and blacks predominated in this show of works contributed by a dozen different artists. Several of the artists offered a good-humored, cartoonish version of the boogey man. Jeremy Gregory, for instance, depicts the figure as a fat, hairy troll in boots and briefs with a hat on his head and a cape tied around his neck. Gregory’s “Boogey Man” chases children out of the swampy woods and back to civilization, which is marked by a row of telephone poles.

Holland Hume’s “Culmination of Childhood Fears” is a depiction of a character called the Boogey Man from a cartoon that he watched as a child. With a big blue face, pink lips and stubble on his chin, the Boogey Man stares out through yellow eyes. His pointed nose hangs down in front of his livid red tongue.

In a slightly more sinister vein is a tiki-like wood carving by James Bender called “I know where you sleep and I’ve seen the bed you sleep in.” The horned figure with football-shaped eyes, bulbous nose and deeply carved mouth looks as if it waits to be relocated to a misty island overgrown with venomous vines.

For his contribution, James Hume contributed a European poster that he pasted to a canvas and enhanced with his paints. The image shows a monster that is an amalgamation of nightmare episodes from American history. The head is a Ku Klux Klan figure and the torso is a birdcage with people trapped inside. One of the monster’s legs is a metal pipe from which a bomb is dropping.

Most of the artists depicted their boogey man as a creature possessed of sharp teeth and claws. Laura Eklund’s “Boogeymonster” – done in marvelous swirls of gray and brown – is a close up of a monster’s face. The eyes are spirals and the mouth bristles with long, curved teeth. Gurgling green froth spills forth from the creature’s gullet and stringy hair hangs in its face.

Ann S. Koi, on the other hand, takes a page from the mythology of the northern Native American tribes and does a depiction of Wendigo, a figure of dark power and dreaded force. Her “Wendigo” stands surrounded by turbulent energy as he exhales a dark funnel of foul fume.

Still other artists present the boogey man as an internal presence. Ryan Loiselle, for example, with “Old Man Bogey Loiselle” gives a crazy-eyed self-portrait that is speckled and spattered. Matthew Scott’s “Girl with terrifying thought bubble #7” shows a cartoon girl with turbulent, half-formed creatures coming from a third eye that has opened in her forehead.

“The Boogey Man Art Show” was a one night only event. Artifakt’s next event is the third annual All Female Art Show that will take place Dec. 11. For further information visit http://www.artifaktart.org.

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