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