Never Ending Books Scares In The Season

The Volume Two collective at Never Ending Books threw open its doors Friday night for a seasonal art opening running at the space at 810 State St. through the end of the month — not of fall foliage and decorative gourds, but of ghosts, ghouls, and other visions of the macabre, as New Haven prepares for what is, in some ways, its most celebrated community holiday. The exhibition, called ​“Vol. Boo,” is a collaborative art show featuring the work of 15 artists who all took the chance, some playfully, some seriously, to explore and illuminate the darker side of life.

“I’ve had this idea since we took this space over,” said Volume Two collective member Elena Augusewicz of the Halloween-themed art show. ​“I’m a bit of a Halloween fanatic, so I tend to get extremely busy in October.” She added that she and her husband take Halloween off from work. ​“It’s a holiday in our family,” she said. 

Augusewicz’s love of Halloween stems from her memory of it as a child; ​“I just love how fun it is to wander around and get to do a thing you’re normally not supposed to do, which is take candy from strangers, while in costume pretending to be someone you’re not,” she said with a laugh. ​“But it’s all in good fun.” As a teenager, she graduated to parties, still in costume. ​“Halloween is my creative outlet,” she said.

She expanded that creativity as an adult, helping put together ​“a whole haunted trail” at a friend’s house on Alden Avenue in Westville for a couple of years, reveling in the hundreds of kids who visited. ​“It was fun to see all the kids have such a blast coming through. It’s being scared, but in a safe way,” she said. She related. ​“I think I’m easily frightened, so I like to face it head-on.”

This year, as a member of the Never Ending Books collective, Augusewicz took that creativity a step further. She did an open call for artwork, ​“first come, first served, all blind,” she said. ​“There weren’t any requirements. People could do one to three pieces, any size, any medium.”

In assembling the show, she created ​“an artistic haunted house” out of Never Ending Books. ​“If I could have spent days more decorating this place, I would have,” she said, adding that ​“if I had more money and more time, I would love to do a full haunted house” at the State Street storefront.

But she loves the way the art has filled the space at Never Ending Books, and of ​“kicking off the month” this way, she said, ​“setting the stage, so now our whole space is packed with Halloween stuff the whole month long.” It ​“sets the scene” for all the events the space will host in the coming weeks, ​“and I think musicians like it too, to be in a room filled with art” when performing.

Artist Chris Tirendi’s work is emblematic of the more playful side of the show. He describes himself as ​“an artist, monster maker, and horror movie enthusiast whose work is both whimsical and weird.” Among his influences are ​“classic horror films, comic books, cartoons, and vintage pulp art.” That last influence is on greatest display in Tirendi’s three pieces in the show, reminding us of the energy those horror comics of the 1960s and 1970s had, and the power they continue to exert even as horror, as a genre, has become more respectable.

In assembling her collages, Jessie May creates intriguing dissonances, juxtaposing religious imagery, frank nature, and woodcuts that seem pulled from dark fairy tales. A librarian, musician, and writer, she gets her images from ​“discarded library books and nature magazines,” an accompanying note explains. ​“She’s inspired by environmentalism, feminism, and folklore.”

XJPN’s paintings fall into the realm of the genuinely unsettling, as the artist deploys ​“dark expressionism” to convey what appears to be human disfigurement or even decay. According to XJPN’s accompanying statement, the goal is to tap into ​“uncomfortable emotion” within the subconsciousness. But there’s a reason beyond simply making people uncomfortable. ​“Every thought, every emotion, and every feeling we express is a part of feeling human,” XJPN writes. ​“Depicting these feelings and having then resonate with you is the closest one can get from a visual perspective to the human experience.” Like Augusewicz, XJPN is facing these feelings head-on.

The latest art show and Never Ending Books’s full calendar of performances sees the community art space — which organized as a nonprofit in 2021 — continuing to provide a place for New Haven’s artists and musicians in a year when other spaces (Artspace and the State House) have closed, one (Cafe Nine) has changed hands, and new spaces (Witch Bitch Thrift) have opened.

Augusewicz is glad to see Volume Two be part of the city’s arts ecosystem, even amid the churn. ​“All the people who reach out” with ideas for shows, ​“we can’t do all of it,” she said. She quickly refers artists and musicians to other venues in town when Never Ending Books can’t accommodate them. ​“It is like a network,” she said, ​“and it’s nice to have more things popping up.”

But she also emphasized that the door remains open, to musicians who want to play, to artists who want to show their work, and to people who want to get involved with helping the place run. The collective has an open public meeting once a month (the next one is Oct. 12 at 6 p.m.).

“Volunteering here is fun,” she said, ​“You can read a book, invite your friends, host an event.” Channeling some of the freedom of the upcoming holiday, she said, ​“you can do whatever you want.”

“Vol. Boo” runs through the end of October. Visit Volume Two’s website for store hours and a list of its events.