Adolescent Rage at Cinders Gallery

Colorful goblins and monsters, explosive collages, ink drawings of domestic disturbances and graphic photos of nude women surround a grotesque red and black hand with long claws reaching for the ceiling at the center of the room.

The fantastical comic scene is Cinders Gallery’s first exhibit of the year, “Adolescent Rage,” a month-long group show of drawings, collages and sculptures by the Baltimore-based art collective Closed Caption Comics, which opened on Friday January 9.

The 85-piece show features childlike art with adult themes inspired by anime, videogames, hand puppets and fantasy storytelling. Mollie Goldstrom’s series of tiny, densely detailed ink drawings depicts a couple engaging in bizarre games, such as eating while blindfolded in “Taste and See I–Quartz.” The games lead to copulation under a coffee table, surrounded by flowered wallpaper in “Taste and See III–Picea Rubens.” Chris Day’s collages and painted photographs show scenes of carnage and sex with eerily childish undertones. A huge dragon-like creature tramples a child who is stretching his arms toward Hello Kitty in “Party Time.” “Everything’s Fine #3” is a graphic print of a nude woman with splatters of baby blues and beiges. Noel Freibert showcases his screenprints, ink drawings and sculptures of mystical creatures. His papier mache red and black sculpture, “Touch this hand, it’s full of blood,” holds court at the center of the gallery. “Goth Lord Sadistic Beast” and “Manga Melt” are screenprints of wildly colored ogres and beasts.

Closed Caption Comics are a group of recent Maryland Institute College of Art graduates who work on various creative projects in the Baltimore area. They put out monthly comic zines, draw, paint, make collages, posters and clothing and create screenprinted and hand-bound books. A few of the collective’s members even made names for themselves in Baltimore’s music scene with bands such as Witch Hat and Bears and Pieces, among others. They regularly put out albums, which they package in hand-made covers.

Cinders founder Sto became interested in a Closed Caption Comics exhibition when a few members of the group stopped by the gallery and showed him several pieces. He was enthralled by their vibrant colors and frenetic energy, and decided to give them a group show. He said he generally likes to work with artists from other cities to create multi-city networks and exchanges.

“It’s nice to introduce this community of artists to people in New York City,” said Sto.

In the back of the art space sits the gallery store, where shelves of handmade books, clothing, tapes and CDs, jewelry, silkscreened patches and other knick-knacks line the walls. The very back section is dedicated to exhibiting work by previous artists as well as Sto’s own Papier Mache sculptures which include a tower of alarm clocks and a sinister chocolate-frosted birthday cake.

Closed Caption Comics have a special shelf featuring hand crafted books ranging from comic books to three-dimensional pop-outs to screen-printed art zines. One of the more humorous pieces is a record of scary stories presented in a silkscreened box with a hand-made bat, spooky cards and a spider web inside. “Hexaflexagon,” a handmade paper game consisting of six-sided ink drawings that can be folded and refolded in many combinations, is another notable piece. Their cassettes and CDs packaged in hand-drawn or screenprinted covers are available for sale as well.

With many of the works already sold at the “crazy opening” of the show, Sto said he is looking forward to the year to come.