Rob Zombie, the heavy metal musician and filmmaker, is holding his first-ever visual art exhibition, "What Lurks on Channel X?", at the Morrison Gallery in Kent, Connecticut, through November 16. The show features 18 large-scale paintings created between 2012 and 2020, drawing on pop culture, horror, and crime iconography. Zombie briefly studied at the Parsons School of Design before leaving to pursue music and film.
The exhibition matters because it challenges the art world's tendency to overlook visual work by rock musicians, who often have deep experience with album covers, posters, and stage design. Zombie's celebrity brings attention to a small-town gallery scene, and the works stand on their own as provocative, visceral pieces rather than relying on his fame. The show also marks a personal return to painting for Zombie, who rediscovered his love for the medium after years away.