Karloff Krunch!
New art for a cereal-themed installation in St. Pete, Florida
I used to draw a lot. I always felt that I was reasonably skilled as an illustrator, but my talents were more in assembly and design. Even then, I had to work pretty hard at getting things right, and I relied a lot on friends to give me honest critiques—Dave Wachter was one of the most important folks in this regard. I learned how to be a passable comic book letterer because of Dave’s kind support and criticism. Anyway, I still get the itch to make art, and when I’m not doing design and assembly work, I like things that are both physical and forgiving: wood, paint, brushes, graphite, pastels, that sort of thing. But I had never really worked with acrylic before. Maybe once or twice in a high school art class, but never again after that.
Late in 2024, one of my childhood best friends, Luke Heath, asked me to contribute something to an installation he was doing in St. Pete, Florida, for The Studio Public House. The theme was cereal box art, and I immediately knew what I had to do: paint a picture of Boris Karloff and add some occult imagery. Edgar G. Ulmer’s The Black Cat is a movie I think about a lot, and I knew that I had to do something Hjamlar Poelzig. I thought about doing something with Ditko, but I decided on Karloff on instead.
Below are some process images. The piece was done on wood; I spraypainted the green base and then used acrylic paint for the spiral and the portrait. I used paint markers for the handwriting and lettering details. The occult symbols I selected were at random, except for the top and bottom symbols on both sides. Those are obviously the owls from Twin Peaks in their White and Black Lodge positions.
Please do go see all of the pieces in person at The Studio Public House, and maybe even pick up something to decorate your home!
The Studio Public House
2950 Central Ave
St. Petersburg, FL 33712
PROCESS:
