Step into the Holy Abyss

Negatory Gallery’s Dark and Surreal Exhibition (1/17/25)

For just a few hours this past Friday night, a dark and eldritch energy pulsated hues of deep red and blue inside the hallowed halls of the Fourth United Presbyterian Church. Stained glass windows glowed with reverberations of esoteric sound, lulling listeners into a trance.

Fourth United Presbyterian Church, Inside: Negatory Gallery Pop-Up Exhibition

With a flurry of energy and ideation, Adam Pernell Deal and Andrea Markel assembled Negatory Gallery’s third pop-up exhibition. Surreal and sensory, theirs is a developing concept that will hopefully blossom into a permanent gallery.

Although there was no theme to the exhibition, rather an invitation to the organizers’ hand-picked artists, a thread of commonality emerged in the types of work displayed. Ambiguous figures, bold color with dark imagery, gore, disturbia, metal, and horror inspiration, seeped into each artwork. The visual and sonic connection was also a crux of this curation. Musical performances by Palatheda, A Certain Zone, Djmys hit could be described as sound art: with the notes comparable to expressionist strokes, abstract and rhythmless, undulating from form to unknowable chaos.

Negatory co-opted the entire cathedral, utilizing two stories of space for extra-dimensional expression. Climbing up the stairs to the balcony level, a flash of light and thrumming drone beckoned visitors in. Ryan Collins’ video piece Hawaii ‘90 (Toss) was projected on the wall of a threadbare room. Form and sound oscillated chromatically like the representational vibration of Lovecraft’s Color Out of Space alien entity. Collins pieced together this video art from found-footage of a family’s island vacation, transporting viewers into something more esoteric and introspective. Hyper-focused into the screen of a cathode ray tube display tv, all narrative dissolved into pixelated color.

Hawaii ‘90 (Toss) by Ryan Collins, found footage, video and sound media

Onwards, the show wrapped around the balcony through interluding cubicles, perfect for a gallery space. It was hard to believe that the dividers weren’t built for that express purpose, but no holes were allowed in the walls for this show, leading to creative solutions and impressive sleight of hand for display logistics.

Tucked away into a humble corner, the work of artist, musician, publisher, and Negatory Gallery curator, Adam Pernell Deal cast a grim shadow over all other pieces. That is to say that it shone brightly in quality, uniqueness, technique, composition, and all over disturbing vibes.

Unearthly monstrosities, horrors evolved from Hieronymus Bosch’s nightmares

Unearthly monstrosities, horrors evolved from Hieronymus Bosch’s nightmares, Deal executed his sinuous creatures with black eyes and pocked, rotting faces with an extremely deft hand. Thin-line ink illustrations with watercolor backgrounds, each piece deserved a long moment of admiration, but there were so many that it was impossible to take in all the detail (note the cross-hatching).

Adam Pernell Deal, Untitled, ink on paper (note the delicate cross-hatching)

These post-modern creations of anxiety and destruction, overrunning the page with their viscerality and cruelty feel relevant to the day. War and famine wrack the land, pestilence and pandemic; we descend further into a hellscape comparable to Revelations’ Judgement Day with each executive order issued. Knoxville may not look like these landscapes of destruction, but the images flash upon our screens and are daily reflected in our minds. Deal brings these demons to the forefront for us to face them.

Sitting in the middle of the floor in another cubicle was a human figure curled up into the fetal pose, covered by a blanket of bird wings. Peckerhead by Natalie McLaurin was an unsettlingly realistic sculpture made of foam, wire, the artist’s clothing, and a “redneck batiked" goodwill bed sheet. I came back a few times to this one, expecting there to be a real person under the sewn shroud performing an endurance piece, but no–just a very convincing sculpture.

Spotlights by Kat Brock

More colorful pieces with initially cheery themes included Spotlights by Kat Brock and They All Want a Piece of Me by Caitlin McLean. Spotlights recalled the writhing organic shapes of Deal’s compositions, but Brock’s geometries and use of color are more like that of Klimt. Despite the rainbow of pink, yellow, and blue, the heavy black lining and overwhelming composition spoke of something that was not joy alone. The energy of primordial beings buzzed in this piece, an ode to the chaos of the universe; of its creation and destruction.

McLean’s work also gave me a different first impression than its underlying message. At first, I saw They All Want a Piece of Me as simply a cheery painting with cheeky imagery. Then my partner pointed out that the woman was made of cake. The heart-nippled girl had a severed arm and sliced open skull revealing that everything is cake. (Our worst fear in the meme-world of 2020. Yes, the meme is as old as 2020. Are we all just cake? Is reality just cake? God, I certainly hope so.)

Details of delft blue china add an air of delicacy to the figure’s skin, the lighter, and the cutesy creatures that surround her. Rather than coming close for comfort, these plushie-type animals hold utensils hungrily waiting to devour her.

They All Want a Piece of Me by Caitlin McLean

Next, an Easter-island-esque head by Ben Fox-McCord summoned some sort of spirit. The head was placed in the center of a star embellished with prophetic animals, angels and demons, and occult symbols of power. The figure, appearing to be of stone or smoothly polished wood, was silent and stoic against the pastel gradient. The star and the statue had such different aesthetics, they could be from different eras–the ancient and contemporary, leading me to ask: has this two-faced entity been summoned by the sigils and appeared on demand to join the others at the Negatory Gallery? I think yes.

Nearing the end of the hallway, I expected to turn and descend the stairs back to the main space. Instead, a rectangle of red light silhouetted by a macabre figure beckoned me to enter the darkness. A Halloweenish scarecrow with teeth-and-all stood sentry, quiet and ominous in the room where a few people were said to have nipped away to light up.

By some means of magic, the Negatory curators opened an otherworldly portal, perhaps to the Hellraiser dimension, but mostly to one of unique creativity. This curious arrangement of art and object, sculpture and sound, added to the environment. These aspects elevated it beyond a regular gallery and immersed visitors in an experience to appreciate the work and the mood of something extraordinary,

Throughout the evening, there were several experimental musical performances. Wailing or atmospheric, unsettling or comforting, speaking of heartache and longing, I found more comfort in a pew listening to the dissonant screeching of an electric guitar, bathed in the musk of old wood, cigarettes, patchouli, beer, and weed, than I had in a church for years.

It was there that Knoxville’s scruffy attitude thrived. The scratchy amps, the bare walls and exposed brick, paintings leaning as if for a moment’s passing, a bright spot of creation in the crumbling skeleton of its ancestor. One might not immediately assume that a small city in the South has such a thriving experimental, darkwave, grunge, and overall alternative scene, but it flourishes in the cracks–like a weed in the sidewalk that with nurturing, may grow into a tree.

Looking forward to seeing what comes next from Negatory Gallery and these innovative artists.

Untitled embroidery by Unknown (Email us if this is your piece, it was unlabeled)