Accidental Mysteries

Nighttime has always held a powerful and integral place in the arts. Literature abounds with the metaphor of night. Writers and poets use the dark as a foil for mystery, intrigue, evil and as a contrast to light in all its forms. Visual artists — painters and photographers stalk the night for sublime and dramatic contrasts. It is where film noir resides, with loneliness, fear, and the unknown its comfortable companion. With midnight called “the witching hour,” it’s no wonder it’s the preferred time that goblins and haints awaken for their work.

Dan Witz; Highland Park, IL. 2006 oil and mixed media on canvas, 38 x 52 inches

Dan Witz: J&J Liquor, 2005, oil and mixed media on canvas, 44 x 68 inches

Todd Hido: Title: 7373, 2009, chromogenic print

Todd Hido: Title: 2045, 1997, chromogenic print

Robert Doisneau, La Fuite des Maries, 1951, gelatin silver print

E.O. Hoppe, Middletown in the Snow, Connecticut, 1926, Vintage silver gelatin print, 9-1/4 x 7-1/4 inches

Weegee, The Critic, 1943, silver gelatin print

Dan Kukla, The Edge Effect, chromogenic print

Robert Joshua Bingaham, Excelsior Pile, 2010, acrylic on linen, 42 x 54 inches

O. Winston Link, Hot Shot East Bound at Laeger, West Virginia, 1956, 16 x 20 inches, silver print

Bryan Haynes, Winter, acrylic on canvas, 20010

Spc. Lee Davis, U.S. Army photo, 2003, Fallujah 

Jay Mug, Castelmezzano, Italy, digital photograph

Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), A Venetian’s Night Entertainment, 1903, oil on canvas

Leonard Koscianski, Good Bad Dog, 2008, Oil on canvas, 45 ¼ x 67 inches

Jay Mug, DC Character Poster, The Dark Knight, 16 x 24 inches, digital print

Bob Staake, Reflection, The New Yorker, November 17, 2008

Mike Noland, War, Oil on Canvas, 46 x 38 inches

Charles Burns, “Big Baby: Teen Plague page 14,” 1989, Ink on paper, 14 1/2 x 14 3/8 inches

Bill Steber, Mississippi Delta Series, Black and White Photograph, 2010

Michael Kenna, Empire State Building, Study 4, New York, 2007, toned silver print, 8 x 7.75 inches

Eduard J. Steichen: The Flatiron, 1905. Photogravure, 12½ x 10¼ inches, Mount: 20 x 16 inches