Spooky Harris is not afraid

Recognition as an artist didn’t come until later in life for Dave Harris.

It was only after he had finally settled into painting as the medium of choice that his creative endeavors began to take on a life of their own. In that space he found a reason to take himself and the work seriously in a way that he hadn’t done before.

Dave and painting got along, and Spooky was born.

Spooky’s first solo show was in the summer of 2019, at the now shuttered Strand Brewing Company that occupied an industrial warehouse near old Torrance. At that time, the brewery was hosting a different local artist each month in its tap room. Spooky had shown his work before but it had been fewer than a handful of times, and always in group shows. This was an opportunity to show a majority of his portfolio all at once.

Because the warehouse was cavernous, the area designated to the artists was a 20-foot section of wall that was equally high. The standard practice among artists was to hang the artwork along the wall at, more-or-less, eye level so that guests and customers could peruse. But what Spooky saw when he entered the space was a 400 square foot blank canvas and it was all his.

“I had wanted to go big,” he recalls. “And when I saw the space, that made sense.”

Rather than simply hang his paintings, Spooky decided to create an entirely new show that was tailored to the space; allowing it to inform the work. What resulted was an undeniably beautiful mess on a scale grand enough to make a warehouse, nearly an acre indoors, seem not quite so cavernous.

“It’s almost complete irresponsibility to intentionally take a much bigger bite than you know you can chew,” says Spooky. “But I find that jumping into the deep end forces me to find the truth that allows me to connect the dots. By scaring myself, all the noise becomes unimportant and I create my most honest attempt at art.”

Using sheets of paper scavenged from wherever he could get them, the installation covered the entire wall and then spilled onto the floor and into the rafters. Here was his divorce on full display. Leaning heavily into his inner child, he was dealing with very adult subject matter from the perspective of a kid who had watched his own family fall apart at a young age and had followed the pattern in his own life. Everything seems bigger when you are small. The places. The people. The feelings. Nothing was more appropriate than to splatter it all onto a giant wall, in a giant warehouse.

“As a child, I would draw as a means of escape,” Spooky says. “As an adult, art helps me to understand the mess, and it makes me make sense to other people.”

When the show at the brewery opened, nobody but his friends knew who Spooky was. When it closed, not much had changed, but the effort hadn’t gone unnoticed. As a result of the show, Spooky began a collaborative relationship with the brewery that led to his artwork being featured on their beer labels.

“People started taking me seriously when my art was on shelves in the grocery store,” says Spooky, fondly, and with a touch of irony. “Working with the brewery helped me understand that the first instinct can be far more valuable than overworking a piece.”

The first sketch that the brewery wanted to use – a line drawing of an outstretched, frazzle-haired cat on the blank side of a used 3 by 5 inch index card – was junk as far as he was concerned. In fact, he had to dig it out of the trash when the brewery asked to use it.

“The positive feedback showed me that my art and my instincts can be important to people,” Spooky says. “The redemption of that cat was the beginning of the redemption of myself.”

“Artist,” as viewed by many, is a less than sufficient direction to point one’s life. Established artists may be celebrated but those embarking upon the journey to get there often face an overwhelming lack of support from the world.

For Harris to pursue being Spooky at the age of 46 was an act of faith in himself. It is paying off.

“For better or worse, the disruption of divorce forced my own reinvention,” he says. “My life has hinged on reinvention more than once.”

Spooky’s art has retained the fire that first drove him while gradually maturing to include a greater depth, both visually and emotionally. It exists now even in his simple line drawings. A high achievement. He has explored the various possible ways of packing every inch of a canvas with something important. While there is great value to piling disparate ideas in order to create an inescapable tension, there is equal value in letting those same things breathe. Spooky has opened a new chapter in his evolution by beginning to explore the negative space that exists in between.“I am learning which sentences matter most in a work. It’s not as much an evolution as it is a closer examination of the same ideas,” Spooky says. “And I feel like I’m getting more confident in editing an idea down to its purest form.”

Spooky’s most recent solo show was reminiscent of that first one at the brewery. Last month, Dorado 806 Projects gallery in Santa Monica gave him their space for 24 hours, in which time he filled it with a show created entirely from scratch.

But this time, Spooky drew a crowd. They came to buy his art.

The show echoed themes of his continuing evolution. The simple black and white drawings done in paint covered the walls on giant sheets of paper and were interspersed with a repeated flower vase in color. The black and whites flowed from right to left around the room while the flowers slowly were dying as they repeated from left to right. The black and the color merged in a larger piece that incorporated both.

Everything was offered for sale on a per square inch basis. As pieces were purchased, they were cut from the larger work with a dull utility knife. People would gather to see what would be cut out. At the end of the night, the large sheets of paper had become swiss cheese with rectangular holes.

Some of what remains will be on display at the El Segundo Art Walk where Dave “Spooky” Harris will be showing his work in the Main Street lot from 3 to 9 p.m.