Sulking in the shadowy corner of the University Art Museum (UAM) exhibit stands a trenchcoat-bearing “Surgeon General” with a rusted bear trap for a mouth, brown leathery skin and a soul-less facial expression. He is one of the many disturbingly interesting sculptures featured in a three month-long exhibition to be at the UAM.
The art exhibition titled “Obsession and Abhorrence” is far from conventional. Instead of displaying beautiful paintings of an open countryside, or tranquil lily pads resting on calm waters, Los Angeles-based special effects artist Gabriel Bartalos’ prosthetic horror movie sculptures are so grotesquely detailed they’re nearly impossible to look away from.
Bartalos has spent over 20 years working as a prosthetic effects artist, according to the UAM press release.
His twisted sense of creativity has helped him to produce numerous visually stimulating sculptures, each with minute touches that give them a sense of liveliness. Taken from various movies he’s worked on like “Cremaster 1-5,” “Brain Damage,” and his very own “Skinned Deep,” his monstrous characters range from a deathly pale woman trying to breakout of a wall of dirt, to an undead horse whose body has decayed to the point where its ribs show through.
Apart from the abnormally figured sculptures, some of Bartalos’ original set designs from the movies “Brain Damage,” “Skinned Deep” and “Basket Case” are also on display.
According to the exhibit’s press release, this is the first time Bartalos’ work has been featured in a museum setting, and it aims to mesh the divide between visual arts, film and popular culture.
