Church of Satan Sigil of Baphomet
Published

OPUS HYPNAGOGIA: Sacred Spaces of the Visionary and Vernacular
July 18 – October 15 2015

at The Morbid Anatomy Museum, 424-A 3rd Avenue Brooklyn, NY

The Morbid Anatomy Museum and Stephen Romano are excited to announce a curated exhibition opening July 18 in recognition of the museum’s first year anniversary.

This milestone will be celebrated with an all day “Festival of Arcane Knowledge” followed by a Devil’s masquerade party. The exhibition will be comprised of a blend of historical, “Outsider”, and Visionary art, as well as contemporary works, vintage books, vernacular photography, folk sculpture, spirit photography, and many surprises. As with previous exhibitions curated by Stephen Romano, the design and content of the exhibition will be in constant dynamic motion throughout the course of the exhibition, adding, taking away, reflecting the synergistic relationship the curator has with the collection.

This exhibition is composed of works from Stephen Romano’s esoteric personal collection, as well as works sampled from the collections of associates and the inclusion of some of the most highly respected and recognized contemporary artists of our time including Kris Kuksi, Kymia Nawabi, Martin Wittfooth, El Gato Chimney, Rithika Merchant, Pulu Zhao, Rene Allain, Matthew Dutton, Lizz Lopez, Joseph McVetty, Barry William Hale and Hunter Stabler.

The exhibition examines the place the visionary occupies as the "HYPNAGOGIA”, defined as the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep: the hypnagogic state of consciousness, when mental phenomena such as lucid dreaming, hallucinations, and sleep paralysis occur. This “threshold consciousness” phase is in this exhibition linked with the visionary artist’s creative process which empowers the artist with shamanic powers. The works presented are implied to have been created while the artist was in a similar state of heighten awareness through their own pursuit of creative fulfillment.

Please click here to read the full press release with many additional images.