John Jude Palencar has been a guest in Middle Earth, the world of The Dark Tower, and now…Providence.
The light and shadow of his art has illuminated a full range of fantasy and horror literature, including the work of Tolkien, Ursula LeGuin, Edgar Allan Poe, Octavia Butler and H. P. Lovecraft. Among his first exposures to RI’s Eldritch Son was the adaptation of “Pickman’s Model” on Rod Serling’s Night Gallery: “The paintings that appeared on that television series were inspirational as well.” One can see some of that ghoulish physiognomy looking out from the cover of this Souvenir Book…
A lot of people see Palencar’s work and compare it to that of (one of his admitted influences) Andrew Wyeth. This writer also ascribes similarities to the paintings of Odd Nerdrum and the photography of Joel-Peter Witkin. The Goya-esque “Graceful Witch” or Brueghelian Hellscape in the study for “Terror in The Year 11 A.D.” show other hues at the darker edge of that palette. The latter was used as a cover for one of the Lovecraftian collections John has composed without resorting to specific Mythos tropes: “I could revisit his [HPL’s] work time and time again and still create a variety of entirely different artistic interpretations of his writing.” Palencar’s oeuvre therefore is not as ‘commercial’ as might be thought at first given his high-profile work for Stephen King and others. He does the work of a Master, but not one of the obvious.
One of the sketches in this portfolio was drawn during John’s Artist in Residence stint at the Cill Rialaig Art Project. This is on The Skellig Islands World Heritage Site: “When I first visited the Skelligs back in 1999 I said if Lucas or Spielberg were ever to see this place today they’ll want to feature it [in one of their films].” Now imagine Rey meeting Luke for the first time in Star Wars: The Force Awakens near that hill in “Ireland Eclipse”…
Regardless, whether from A Galaxy Far Far Away or his birthplace in Ohio, The City of Roger Williams is honored to welcome our 2017 Artist Guest of Honor John Jude Palencar in all his attending light and shadows.–TjZ