The Curse of The Matryoshka -Arch Enemy Arts: March 1st – 23rd, 2019​

‘The Curse of The Matryoshka’ : March 1st – 23rd, 2019​
Opening Reception: March 1st // 6 – 10pm
 
Arch Enemy Arts • 109 + 111 Arch Street in Philadelphia, PA 19106

Arch Enemy is excited to announce the Curse of the Matryoshka, the second AEA solo collection from Joe Vollan. Joe has a distinct and eerie style he calls doom folk, with works telling complex stories of heartache and adventure. 

A story inspired by a set of Matryoshka dolls that Joe saw at an antique store in Buffalo, New York, curse of the Matryoshka is a story about a worm that is cursed by the devil, eaten by a magpie, who was doomed and eaten by the Knivesman of Madison, a fox who then inherited the curse and then passed it on to an eight-fingered butcher, a wolf, when he ate the fox.  Baba Yaga the witch then ate the wolf and was cursed herself. The devil had known that this was exactly how things would work out as he intended the curse for the witch the entire time. As each creature was eaten they were turned into a Matryoshka doll in the stomach of the creature that ate them.

The story is told through a collection of paintings, each detailing a key scene in the saga and displayed with a corresponding hand sculpted and details matryoshka doll to represent each main character in the story.

www.archenemyarts.com


Doom Folktales -Revolution Gallery: November 24 – December 30, 2017

Revolution Gallery’s 1 Year Anniversary – “Dark Celebration” is coming November 24th- Black Friday!!! Don’t miss the opening reception for Joe Vollan’s Solo Exhibit DOOM FOLKTALES and the spectacular group exhibit DARK CELEBRATION! Live music courtesy Blue Rocket Trio. Free and open to the public! www.revolutionartgallery.com

REVOLUTION GALLERY • info@revolutionartgallery.com • 716.322.7656 • 1419 Hertel Avenue | Buffalo, NY 14216

Spectral Menagerie: Bherd Gallery- November 9 – December 13, 2013

Seattle artists Joe Vollan and Megon Shore explore the afterworld of the animal kingdom in their collaborative exhibition, Spectral Menagerie. Ghost animals, deaths-head moths and nodding calla lilies appear in their paintings, charting a course through the afterlife that is by turns eerie, haunting and beautiful.

Vollan, whose works on canvas, panel and fimo clay describe tales of heartache and adventure, take place in the city of Rusted Gallows, populated primarily by friendly skeletons. The characters in his works demonstrate that there can be contentment and hope in an otherwise dilapidated world. Shore is a tattoo artist at the Greenwood-based Fist Full of Metal Tattoo Studio, and previously apprenticed at Under the Needle Tattoo Studio in Seattle. She also studied printmaking at Emily Carr University in Vancouver, BC. Both artists painstakingly create pieces that discover the essence of life after death and find the loveliness that lies within the unknown.

rickity tickity tack, the devil played spoons
rickity tickity tack, the devil played spoons

http://www.bherdstudios.com/3219/spectral-menagerie/