Let’s start by saying that I would not have a 2-foot-by-3-foot painting of the movie villain Michael Myers wearing a bedsheet hanging in my living room.
But, it doesn’t matter what I like.
Someone had already bought it for $1,500 at SugarMynt Gallery, at 810 Meridian Ave. in South Pasadena, which is currently exhibiting art themed on the 1978 John Carpenter film, “Halloween.” The special exhibit, running through Halloween, is called “Welcome to Haddonfield 1978.”
SugarMynt Gallery’s owner, SaraRose Orlandini, has a tattoo on her arm of Myers, who stabs and slashes his way through this cult classic horror movie, which was filmed in South Pasadena.
One of the Michael Myers houses featured in the movie is located next to the gallery and is like a sacred shrine for fans who pose for photos at its front door.
Orlandini explained that she sells what she calls “fan art” — which are pop culture concepts with, in her case, a spooky twist.
“I like artwork based around horror and spooky stuff,” she said.
Halloween is kind of a special time and feeling for the gallery’s owner, who told me that she had been open nine Halloweens and eight years.
She showed me a cartoon of the characters from “Peanuts,” with Snoopy trick-or-treating with vampire teeth.
“It sells like hot cakes,” Orlandini said.
Each art exhibit has a theme. Orlandini puts out the word on her website and artists can submit their work.
“Artists are making artwork of the things they love, and everyone has their own interpretation,” she said.
And the buyers might have their own favorites. She said that one person has bought eight works inspired by the movie “Halloween” and even painted his car with a Michael Myers theme. Other people love Stephen King, and they might find a homage show that is themed off his work.
Artist Alan Dellascio, who lives near Salem, Massachusetts, sells almost everything he displays for exhibition, and boy is he grateful.
“What [Orlandini] does for us artists is wonderful,” Dellascio said. “My life changed when she reached out to me. She changed my life.”
By that, he means that his wife was able to stay home with his children. He’s still got his day job as a radiology technician, but sales have been so good that he’s hopeful to work as a full-time artist someday soon.
People from all over the country send him photos of their homes, and ask him to “spookify” it in his custom work. An 18-by-24 painting of the Myers house can sell for up to $800, but the orders keep coming in — even from England, Australia and Canada. He also does autumn scenes, but even those might have a pumpkin somewhere in the scene.
“It’s weird to me, but it’s happening and getting more popular. I’ve had people send me photos of the ‘Halloween’ paintings and prints that they have hanging in their bathrooms.”
Go figure.
Orlandini, Dellascio, and another frequent exhibitor, Jimi Martinez, said they all love “Halloween” the movie and the holiday and have since childhood.
Martinez grew up in South Pasadena, where he still lives, and likes the way his hometown is depicted in the movie.
“Much of the artwork I do for SugarMynt centers around John Carpenter” who directed “Halloween,” said Martinez, whose day job is primarily doing illustrations for a hip-hop music website, and other projects. “His movie shows the quaintness of the city while making our town very scary.”
Most of Martinez’s pieces sell in the $200-$300 range, although he sold one for $1,000 — and he also likes to do landscapes and architectural settings.
Orlandini said that she has always been a visual person. Dyslexia made reading difficult, so she looked at the pictures.
“I’m a visual person,” she said.
“I love objects — especially architecture — and everyone has their own way of depicting it,” she said.
She’s always been a devotee of scary movies-she counts the original “Night of the Living Dead,” Tim Burton’s “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and Guillermo del Toro’s films being among some of her favorites. In fact, del Toro’s films may be mirrored in her next show, which opens Dec. 1, and is called “Chilling Tales Unveiled — Scary Stories From Folklore and More.”
“I love themes because this is what I like as a buyer,” she said.
Orlandini doesn’t tell artists what to paint, but she may suggest that a character they want to use might be too obscure, or suggest a possible idea. She also might give advice on whether an artist was pricing a painting too high or too low.
You could go into the gallery and buy a $200 painting, or you might end up spending more than $1,000. The most expensive paintings had red dots meaning “sold” the day I visited — more than a month and a half after the exhibit opened.
“I know specific styles and what will do better for my customers,” she said.
Artist Rachel Satya, of Ventura, said that she loves to paint, but tends to undersell her work.
“I’m horrendous at selling my work,” said Satya, who also loves movies, often depicting less-obvious moments in her paintings. I Ioved the painting she did of the character played by Jamie Lee Curtis looking out of a window and seeing Myers.
Too bad for me. It already had a red “sold” dot, as did the other five paintings she had done for the show, including the aforementioned painting of Myers covered by a bedsheet.
“SaraRose has given my paintings a value that I wouldn’t have done on my own. I’m very grateful for that,” said Satya, who teaches when she’s not painting. She estimates that she’s sold between 30-40 paintings at SugarMynt Gallery since she started showing there in 2020-21.
“SaraRose is the voice of introverted artists like me,” she concluded. “She gets us money for the time we put into our art.”
Editor’s Note: SugarMynt Gallery has extended hours “Welcome to Haddonfield 1978” until Halloween: Oct. 27-28, 10-8 p.m.; Oct. 29-30, 10-7 p.m.; Halloween, Oct. 31, 10-8 p.m. Admission is $20 per person. For more information, visit sugarmynt.com.
First published in the October 27 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.
