Art - Clint Langley’s Carnival

It’s your last chance to catch Clint Langley’s Carnival in Lewes: this exhibition, culled from his work from 2000AD Magazine, ends on Sunday. The show has been a great success with hundreds of people visiting in the last fortnight. It has been hugely popular locally and as Hayley Brown, Manager of the Star Gallery notes “a recent advert in 2000AD has brought many comic-book fans flocking to Lewes from all over the country.” She adds that “so far we have sold 11 pieces and not all of these have been to comic-book fans - his art is incredibly vibrant and has a great appeal.” Comments from the Gallery’s visitors book give voice to the impression the show has made so far – these include “excellent sharp clear beautiful colours”, “fantastic, awesome”, “stuff of fantastical dreams” and the cute “this lad is a genius, his parents must be proud of him” signed by his mother and father.

Langley blends gothic fantasy and macabre imagery into his work. Some of it is dark and disturbing (as displayed in his montage piece ‘Carnival of the Night’), some fantastical (as found in his black and white print ‘Forsaken’ which portrays a naked woman upside down with a spider’s body and legs hanging from the thread of its web) and some chilling (‘Spilling Your Guts To A Fox’ is a good example, with a fox done up to the nines in a shabby pin-stripe suit, spats, bowler hat and pocket watch atop a muddy mound). KA