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Artist David R. Mello got hooked on dragons when he was 7 or 8 years old in the late 1960s.
Watching Ray Harryhausen’s 1958 fantasy adventure “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” on a black and white RCA console — likely with aluminum foil balled on the rabbit ear antennae to improve the usually snowy reception from the UHF station — he was both amazed and terrified as the reptilian beast lunged from a mountain cave onto the beach to engage the intrepid adventurer and his loyal crew.
That seminal moment would establish Mello’s love of mythological creatures and beings of all kinds, but it was the dragons that reigned supreme. And it is the primary reason that he began planning an ambitious exhibition, fueled at least in part by childhood nostalgia, that would be “nothing but pure, unequivocable, satisfying fun.” He has described it as “an all-consuming abyss where time came to a standstill and the only thing that mattered was the task ahead.”
He is right. “Here There Be Dragons: And Other Creatures That Never Were,” currently on display at the Narrows Center for the Arts, is joyous unadulterated escapism, a family-friendly mix of ancient mythologies and pop culture nods that can only be achieved by just the right kind of geek, and I believe Mello would proudly and happily wear that badge.
The discovery of dinosaur bones and the interactions between ancient peoples across the globe with enormous creatures such as anacondas and crocodiles and Komodo dragons certainly fueled tales of encounters with dragons that became legend and myth.
Mello’s love of dragons is expansive enough as to occasionally abandon fidelity to the source material to create new versions and hybrids. Utilizing clay and acrylic paint, the gallery walls are festooned with three-dimensional creatures of fantasy.
With great respect to the world mythologies which he references, he, like a chef who reads and respects a recipe, is confident enough to leave out certain ingredients or to decide to add a little bit of this and just a bit of that. Or to start from scratch.
One of the most modern iconic dragons is Smaug, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic 1937 novel, “The Hobbit.” The villainous and covetous red monster, who slithers about on a mountain of stolen gold, is described as “a most specially greedy, strong and wicked worm.” He boasts: “I kill where I wish and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today. Then I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong…”
Mello’s version of Smaug remains crimson and he has great bat-like wings and a golden horn. But his snarl is more a grin, as if he were the mischievous host of a party that could spiral out of control in a moment, a ball that becomes a brawl. It’s kind of perfect.
There is quite a bit of contemporaneous dragonesque material from which to cull, from J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series to “Game of Thrones” to Cressida Cowell’s “How to Train Your Dragon” series to the “Dungeons & Dragons” RPG to the Godzilla franchise and much more. But Mello sticks to the classics. Or he creates new ones.
In “di Cosimo’s Dragon,” Mello plucks a long-tusked and snake-tailed dragon out from “Perseus Freeing Andromeda” (circa 1510) by the Italian painter Piero di Cosimo and admits that while he tried to remain faithful to the original artist’s vision, he “felt the need to attach some wings.”
“The Questing Beast” refers to an elusive dragon-like monster of Arthurian legend. It has a serpentine neck and head, the spotted torso of a leopard, the forelegs of a lion and the hind legs of a deer. The artist ups the ante again by attaching a set of enormous wings, making for an even fiercer opponent for the Knights of the Round Table.
Mello’s “Chinese Dragon” is a bright blue, scaly reptilian creature with golden horns, claws and shard-like spikes running down the length of its back, while “Ghost Dragon” is a traditional dragon, so to speak, but with such a pallid hue as to suggest it has indeed passed onto a phantom state.
Beyond the multitude of dragons (40 plus!), there are “…Other Creatures that Never Were.”
“Skeris” is an Azure Sea Serpent of sorts, with great fins and a mouthful of monstrous teeth that would shame ol’ Bruce the shark from “Jaws.”
Mello’s “Cthulhu” is his quite faithful interpretation of a gigantic cosmic entity worshipped by cultists introduced in the short story “The Call of Cthulhu.” It was created by H.P. Lovecraft and originally published in the pulp magazine “Weird Tales” in 1928. It is a semi-humanoid being with great wings and the head of an octopus.
The artist delves deeply into the cryptozoology of ancient Greek mythology. His depiction of “Cerberus,” known as the Hound of Hades, features the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from attempting to return to the land of the living. The ferocious beast has been given great wings and caprine horns on each canine head.
His “Griffin” is a perfect melding of lion (the king of the beasts) and eagle (the king of the birds). In the Middle Ages, the creature was honored as a majestic and powerful creature and Mello does it justice.
And there is an appropriately horrifying harpy, an appropriately menacing manticore and an appropriately fiery phoenix.
Mello’s enthusiasm for the subject and the level of craftsmanship make the exhibition a must-see. He notes the importance of his Durfee High School art teacher Thomas Tavares and his SMU sculpture instructor Peter Schickel as profoundly significant in his development as an artist.
He is the supervisor of children’s services at the Fall River Public Library where he has worked for 42 years, and where I am certain that he shares his love of dragons and magical creatures of all kinds.
“Here There Be Dragons: And Other Creatures That Never Were” is on display at the Narrows Center for the Arts, 16 Anawan St., Fall River, until March 28.
Don Wilkinson has been writing art reviews, artist profiles and cultural commentary on the South Coast for over a decade. He has been published in local newspapers and regional art magazines. He is a graduate of the Swain School of Design and the CVPA at UMass Dartmouth. Email him at dwilkinson@newbedfordlight.org
Fantastic job, creativity and detail really outstanding.