Downtown Orlando’s CityArts Factory gets spooky with their fourth annual outdoor party on Pine Street with an artsy twist on the “Day of the Dead” festival.
Here’s a scene to raise those frail little hairs on your arms. Picture a chilly, damp night in downtown Orlando. Eerie, blue (icicle?–aren’t they for Christmas?) lights are strung up in the shoulders of trees that line the city streets. Bright orange lights glare down from the empty, upper windows of offices, restaurants, and retail. The night is filled with songs of “La Llorona,” “Werewolves of London,” and “Tango del Pecado,” which waft out along the dead, ghost-town streets from a tiny, jam-packed art gallery, CityArts Factory. Mona Lisa sits patiently behind the storefront glass, smiling her enigmatic smile as people come in and go out, each with the resounding chatter of the front door’s bell. More people enter the mix, dressed as witches (and Harry Potter’s) and scary goblin ghouls (okay, just that silly Scream mask). The place is alive with the beat of garrulous and babbling conversation, while live art performances by Salvador Live (complete with live dance performances) fill the imaginations of the guests. The hauntingly beautiful “Macabre Cirque” by Phantasmagoria is enough to rival that of Saint Saens’ music, “Danse Macabre.” Finally, zoom your focus to the interior of the gallery: white and red walls are adorned with smiling Frankensteins, grinning skulls, ethereal maidens garbed in ghostly white, and original 3D art with skeletons painted on palm fronds. There are altars filled with memorabilia and vivid sculptures of monsters. that could only live in the depths of the subconscious.
If you didn’t make it to this art exhibit opening on Oct. 17th, you missed a great time! Anything from pleasantly scary to hair-raising fright was available to the passersby in this exhibit dedicated to the Dia de los Muertos. Open from Tuesday to Saturday from 11AM to 6 PM, the art gallery continues its festivities and will have its Fourth Annual Dia de Los Muertos and Monster Factory exhibit up until Nov. 15th. Feast your eyes in these post-Halloween weeks on the simultaneous exhibits of local artists’ featured works: Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), Monsters (Halloween) and three haunting murals.
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