The Silent Monster

I call my costume 'The Silent Monster', to me this costume represents the experience of isolation that comes with the 2020 pandemic. I made this costume after being inspired by an untitled painting that my friend Chris Scott had painted.

Due to Covid and social distancing, it became apparent to me that there wasn't going to be any Halloween parties this year. At least not any that I was invited to. However, I didn't want this Halloween to completely pass by me ...

Eventually I was able to make the best of the situation. The best thing about Halloween this year is that I can be as creative and unique as I wanted to be. The best part is that I don't have to deal with people asking me again and again what my costume is. Which is why this year I made sure to take full advantage of this opportunity and I made my costume something that truly inspired me.

To me, this monster is something much worse than something you would see in a horror movie. This isn't the kind of monster that would attack you one night and have the story end so quickly. This monster is more like a silent lingering darkness that will just never leave you ... yet doesn't completely destroy you either.

So, you are probably wondering ... who is this amazing artist that made the original painting? His name is Chris Scott! Chris Scott is an artist working out of Durham Region (a.k.a. the greater Toronto area).

He has a degree from Durham College in 'An introduction to art and design' and he also has a bachelor's from the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Drawing and Painting Fine Arts.

Christopher works as a commission painter, but also does his own original work. He primarily focuses on portraits, both traditional, and in darker more macabre surreal styles.

So what is macabre surreal art? According to the merriam-webster dictionionary macabre means "having death as a subject : comprising or including a personalized representation of death" as well as "dwelling on the gruesome". Surreal means "marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream".

Macabre Surreal is a unique an art style that literally focuses on the stuff that comes from nightmares. It is both dark and surreal. Macarbre surreal art is also referred to ask Dark Surreal art.

"The concept of dark surrealist art has been a major aspect of surrealist work from its very beginnings. Surrealism (or 'above realism') has its dark roots in the aftermath of World War I and the Dadaist’s response.

Its outlook was an anti-rational, apolitical and social response to a world that allowed a horrific disregard for humanity. Whatever the reason surrealists rejected any degree of rational explanation. Instead they embraced chaos and unconscious desires, and Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis.

Surrealists believed that the adoption of these principles would help in discovering the true world – through the unconscious mind and interpretation of dreams."

This quote is from 'theartist' on davidcharlesfox.com.

You probably know another Dark Surrealist artist, Salvador Dali.

"Dali was both scared, yet compelled, by death. The skull acted as a symbol for human mortality in his and other dark surrealist artworks."

- 'theartist' on davidcharlesfox.com

Needless to say, skulls were a big part of the Dark Surreal art movement.

However, don't be fooled. Chris also paints other art styles as well. Chris also loves to paint both animal portraits and portraits of his loved ones.

My favorite thing about Chris' art is his color choices. Not everyone chooses to put green in a portrait a portrait and very few artists and make it work like Chris Scott does.

Keep in mind that the photos shown in this article are only the tip of the ice berg. There are tons and tons of more artwork where these came from.

Since Chris has tons more where this came from! So let me know if you want to see more by giving this article a like and share. Better yet, if you send a tip attached to this article. I'll send it straight to Chris.