I doubt Palehorse president and designer, Chris Parks, knew what he was in for when he asked local artists to submit apocalyptic-themed works for the grand re-opening of The Pale Horse Graphic Design Studio & Gallery (formerly Blackout Creations). The gallery, which sits on the crosshairs of Central and MLK in downtown St. Pete, was filled beyond capacity with a tattooed crew dressed in the height of art-school fashion, drinking beer and eating cupcakes.

  

The 2nd Coming art show took its name from the Bible’s Revelations, but many of the darkly comic works seemed to have more in common with Dr. Strangelove. There were plenty of sickles and demonic figures, but most were grinning like deviant comic book heroes. Like Revelations, the works were jam-packed with abstract, obscure and pop-culture symbolism, but with a modern twist. Instead of the doomsday beast being marked 666 in reference to Nero, Chris Park’s henchman rode a horse branded with oil company logos. Instead of a demonic horse, Erik Jones’ sinisterly sexy apocalyptic rider straddled a wicked motorcycle. The cloven hooves were severed pigs’ feet in mason jars, hand-tattooed by Allen Hampton with colorful sailor images.

This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2008.