*Pictured above: "Pagan," 2015, acrylic on birch panel

Ohio based artist and illustrator John Jude Palencar invites you to enter his world - a world "between worlds," where reality meets its darker, surreal self.  His work combines the realism and style of artists such as Bosch and Da Vinci with the fantastical and unusual. It all started when he was young. Palencar states: "As a youngster I was fascinated with scary and unknown things. I always wanted to create things that couldn’t be photographed, and drawing was a kind of therapy for dealing with my fear of the unknown." His work focuses on fantasy, science fiction, and horror, and he himself has exisited between the worlds of commercial illustration and fine art for many years.

John Jude Palencar has created cover art for some of the biggest authors in book publishing - J R.R. Tolkien, Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, Ursula LeGuin, Christopher Paolini, Connie Willis, Octavia Butler, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and many others. His illustrations have graced the covers of books in more than thirty countries around the world. His art has appeared in Time Magazine, National Geographic Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, and more. Palencar’s entertainment projects include work for Paramount Pictures, Lucas Arts, and Vivendi Universal.

In addition to his cover art, John Jude also creates personal works. His work has been included in a number of museum exhibitions around the country and overseas. He has been an Artist in Residence in Ireland and a visting artist and lecturer at numerous colleges and universities. "Between Worlds" will feature a small portion of his personal works as well as pieces that were created for various publishers. Recently he has begun to devote more time to his personal painting, examining the duality of faith, mortalty, beauty and the grotesque. His personal iconography is sometimes unsettling and always ecentric. “Between Worlds” visits this quiet twilight landscape, the origin of his work.

“John Jude Palencar is a rarity among modern artists, mixing meticulous technique reminiscent of the old masters with a soaring, darkly surreal imagination."

-Arnold Fenner

Former Director of Spectrum (The Annual of Fantastic Realism).

On view May 3, 2019 - July 21, 2019