It’s "Scream Time" at DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery in October. The exhibition features the artwork of Pamela Jones and Michael Santacroce. Her contribution to the show is “Bad Clowns,” a series that voices Jones’ fear and loathing of clowns – a metaphor for Americans’ anxiety about the future. Santacroce brings ink creatures that signify his personal demons involving identity, addiction, mental health and sexuality.
“Scream Time” is on display Oct. 2 through Nov. 1.
The opening reception is 5:30-9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2.
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States the Gallery in its press release announcing the show, “these haunting new works were exclusively created for this exhibition.”
Michael V. Santacroce creates boldly expressive art that is both sinister and thought-provoking. He utilizes a stream of consciousness approach when creating, in which his linework becomes automatic and a reflection of his subconscious thoughts. His lines twist and contort, transforming into unsettling creatures that “provide me a sense of closure,” the artist stated. “It gives me a safe space to move forward from past traumatic experiences within my life.”
Santacroce’s work was previously exhibited in 2023 at the gallery’s former location.
Pamela Jones is a self-taught mixed media artist from St. Louis, Missouri, who now resides in Punta Gorda. Her award-winning work consists of carefully detailed assemblages crafted with repurposed objects, thrift store bargains and unique finds, including the vintage rubber clown heads she uses in her “Bad Clowns” series. Depicting the nasty things clowns do and their just rewards for doing them, the pieces are designed to provoke discomfort yet demand a closer look.
"It's misleading to ask when clowns turned bad, for they were never really good,” said Jones.
“A dark side has always lurked just below their caricatured features and painted smiles," wrote author and clown scholar Benjamin Radford.
Jones’ “Bad Clowns” series perfectly captures Radford’s statement.
DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery is at 10051 McGregor Blvd., Ste. 104 in Fort Myers (Alliance for the Arts campus). The gallery’s business hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday to Sunday and 5:30 to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of each month.
Information about the venue can be found at daascoop.com or by calling 239-955-0422.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
