|
The paintings of
Night Gallery interview with artist
Tom Wright
Read
More and Listen to Interview
 "This
little collector's item here dates
back a few hundred years to the British-Indian
colonial period - proving only that
sometimes the least likely objects
can be filled with the most likely
horror."
"Our painting is called The
Doll, and this one you'd best
not play with."
 "An
unforgiving sea usually buries its
secrets beneath itself. Warships and
ocean liners, treasure galleons and
submarines turn into rusting relics
inside a watery locker, lost to memory.
But occasionally there comes a floating
unbidden reminder of disaster - like
this lifeboat. The painting is called
The Lone Survivor. We'll put
it in tow and see where she came from
and why."
 "Tonight's
first selection, a painting suggesting
solitude, or at least solemnity as
viewed during the midnight hour. It
tells the tale of two young people
caught inexorably in a recurring nightmare
with a finale on the jolting side.
Our painting, with the somewhat familiar
face, is called Midnight Never
Ends, and this is the Night
Gallery."
 "There's
something rather remarkable in the
scope of imagination peculiar to children.
They project and dream and fantasize
with beauty and simplicity and faith
in a manner that somehow eludes us
as we grow older. This is Brenda
and Brenda has a playmate. It comes
to her in part because of loneliness
-- and what I wish for you is that
you never get that lonely."
 "H.P.
Lovecraft, known to the aficionados
of the occult - demonology, witchcraft
- as a master storyteller, is responsible
for our first selection in this museum
of the frequently morbid. To you connoisseurs
of the black arts, you'll probably
recognize it. It's a painting that
tells the story of a young artist
who recruits his models from odd places.
And the models are very odd indeed.
The painter's name, incidentally,
is Pickman. The title is Pickman's
Model. And where else would you
see a story like this except in the
Night Gallery?"
 "A
dead man splattered on a concrete
walk. Not the most appetizing of scenes
and not the pleasantest of stories,
but if you're interested remotely
in homey homicides, this may be your
bag. We call it The Late Mr. Peddington."
 "In
the general generic area of costume
jewelry, note girl, and note expression.
Obviously a lady much disturbed by
whatever little bauble she has recently
been the recipient of. Said sentence
improperly ending on a preposition
... but this story ending on a much
more deadly note than that. "We
call it A Feast of Blood."
 "There
are horror stories and horror stories,
elements of terror that take myriad
forms. But this item has a built-in
terror which can refrigerate even
the most dispassionate amongst us.
It has to do with a little beastie
known as an earwig, a small bug that
crawls into the human ear. And while
inside it doesn't whisper sweet nothings
- it performs quite another function.
Offered to you now on Night Gallery,
a brand new nightmare which we call
The Caterpillar."
 "Now
here you have a study in penology
- man imprisoned by his fellow man,
caged in a barred cubicle and left
alone far too long to contemplate
both his sin and his sanity. This
painting is called Finnegan's Flight.
It touches upon prisons, hypnosis
and the soaring wings of imagination
- but as to the latter, a small warning:
imagination can be a double-edged
thing. It can take you out of the
humdrum realities, but it can also
fly you to a place much less pleasant.
May I introduce to you now Mr. Finnegan
in his first and last appearance in
the Night Gallery."
 "In
a color scheme of blood-red sky with
corpse-white moon, this, we tell you
up front, is a story of vampires.
And of course this must conjure up
images of Bela Lugosi and Christopher
Lee, somewhat frigid, malevolent,
monstrous creatures. But reserve such
all-conclusive judgment of the living
dead until you hear the story of a
particular vampire, the kind you might
find in a place like this, the Night
Gallery." From Death on
a Barge.
|
