Chicagoland’s largest Halloween themed art show, the 4th Annual Maleficium Dark Art Exhibition is being hosted by Kosart Effects Studios & Gallery. Anthony Kosar, winner of Syfy’s Faceoff Season 4 is curator of the gallery. Read on for more details on the event.
From The Press Release
Chicago’s Own FACE OFF Champion J. Anthony Kosar Curates his Fourth Annual Halloween Themed Art Exhibit
Award-Winning and World-Renowned Artists, a horror film screening, a Raffle for Charity, and
Nightmarish Horrors Await the Public on November 15th.
— After 3 years hosting Chicagoland’s greatest exhibition of nightmarish art, Kosart Effects Studios & Gallery in Westmont is excited to continue Chicago’s newest Halloween tradition with the Fourth Annual MALEFICIUM Dark Art Exhibition, the Halloween-themed art show open to the public and free to attend. The exhibition opening and artist reception will be held on Saturday, November 15th from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. and featuring over 50 award-winning artists of all media from around the world. Plus, one night only, come see world-renowned horror photographer Joshua Hoffine’s first short film BLACK LULLABY playing throughout the night at the opening reception on November 15th.
MALEFICIUM is a Latin term for “mischief” and “dark art,” and if Halloween and Horror is your thing, than this is the MUST SEE show to close the 2014 Halloween season. Chicago-based award-winning artist and Syfy’s FACE OFF Season 4 Champion J. Anthony Kosar, instructor of Special FX classes and workshops at his Kosart Atelier: School for Entertainment Art, created MALEFICIUM in 2011. “The buzz is spreading after three years of bringing Art and Halloween together, Maleficium is now larger than ever, attracting bigger names in the dark art community, from renown illustrators and photographers, to sculptors and Hollywood FX artists, to film producers and directors,” Kosar said.
Over 50 award-winning artists will be featured, including horror legend, director, writer, and fine artist Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Night Breed, Books of Blood), world renowned sculptor and concept artist Jordu Schell (Avatar, Predator 2, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, and seen on the Travel Channel’s Making Monsters, Toy Hunter, and Syfy’s Face Off), award-winning illustrator and concept artist Allen Williams (Guillermo Del Toro’s Pacific Rim and Darren Aronofsky’s Noah), Award-Winning Sculptor Thomas Kuebler (Spectrum and Rue Morgue), renowned horror photographer Joshua Hoffine (Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Famous Monsters of Filmland), make-up fx artist and fine artist Akihito Ikeda (The Hulk, Alien vs Predator 1 & 2, The Island, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, Narnia: Prince Caspian, Transformers, Terminator Salvation), award-winning illustrator Jason Seiler (Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, and character designer for Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland), sculptor Andy Bergholtz (McFarlane Toys, Diamond Select Toys, DC Comics, Disney, Marvel, Sideshow Collectibles, and seen on Syfy’s CARVERS and The Food Network), and many more. This year’s MALEFICIUM image “The Harrower” is 16.75″ x 23.75″ oil on panel painting by illustrator Jeremy Wilson (Fantasy Flight Games, Cryptozoic Entertainment). Along with Maleficium curator J. Anthony Kosar (Face Off Season 4 Champion, Face Off Season 8 Coach, Indiana Jones 4, Avatar, Presidential Monsters), other Face Off contestants exhibiting in the exhibition include J. Anthony Kosar’s student, Chicago-based Dina Cimarusti (Face Off Season 7 current front-runner), Rayce Bird (Face Off Season 2 Champion & Face Off Season 8 Coach), and Wayne Anderson (Face Off Season 4 Finalist and Face Off Judge Match). The complete list of artists and bios is on the website, KosartGallery.com.
At the Exhibition Opening and Artist Reception on November 15th, there will be a Raffle for Charity to benefit Little Friends Inc, a private, non-profit organization serving children and adults with autism and other developmental disabilities. All proceeds from the raffle will go to Little Friends and will feature prizes ranging from signed prints, books, comics, masks, figurines, and other great prizes donated by the artists. At last year’s Maleficium, Kosart Gallery raised $1,400 for Little Friends, more than doubling what was raised the previous year. Drawing will be at 10pm on Nov 15th. Winner need not be present to win.
Kosart Gallery is honored to have the work of one of our heroes, the legendary horror writer, filmmaker, and fine artist Clive Barker included in the Fourth Annual MALEFICIUM Dark Art Exhibition! Clive is known for the Hellrasier franchise, Books of Blood, and Night Breed, among other books and movies. Clive’s work displayed at Kosart Gallery in collaboration with Century Guild in Culver City, CA.
The show is free to attend and will run through December 19th, with viewings after November 15th by appointment only. Art and theater teachers are invited to bring their students in for private tours. Artwork will be available for sale (unless marked NFS). All major credit cards will be accepted.
Kosart Effects Studios and Gallery is located at 760 Burr Oak Drive, Westmont, IL 60559.
About J. Anthony Kosar
Award-winning artist and Syfy’s FACE OFF Season 4 Champion and just announced as a Season 8 Coach, J. Anthony Kosar specializes in Fine Art, Illustration, Sculpture, and Special Effects through his company Kosart Effects Studios, LLC. In 2007, he interned at legendary Stan Winston Studio creating effects for INDIANA JONES 4 and James Cameron’s AVATAR. FACE OFF, a reality-based competition on the Syfy Channel is the biggest competition for Make-Up FX, and Kosar won 6 of the 11 Spotlight Challenges, plus 1 of 4 Foundation Challenges, setting the record of most consecutive wins in a row and most wins by a single contestant on a single season. Kosar designs and sculpts Halloween masks, creates special effects for theater, film, and commercials, and teaches the Art of FX through his school Kosart Atelier: School for Entertainment Arts in Westmont, IL. Besides FX, Kosar designs and sculpts prototypes for toys, collectibles and medical anatomical models, illustrates for novels and comic books, curates art gallery exhibitions, and creates his own fine art paintings and sculptures. His paintings have appeared in Watercolor Artist Magazine and SPLASH: Best of Watercolor, and his sculptures have appeared in Fangoria and SPECTRUM: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, which he was a judge for Spectrum 21. Kosar was Valedictorian of the class of 2008 at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, IL earning his BFA in Illustration.
Please invite and direct your friends, family, fans, and followers to our Official 2014 MALEFICIUM Events page on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/655810074516778/?ref=22
