Horror Artist Joel Robinson Contaminates St. Louis

Horror artist Joel Robinson looks like the kind of man who ought to be a guest at something called Contamination - a horror, science fiction and cult convention taking place at the  in Maryland Heights through Sunday

However, looking at Robinson now, it’s hard to believe he spent a decade as a respectable special education teacher who quietly indulged his passion for art on the side. When he was laid off in 2007 his life took an unexpectedly surreal turn.

As a fan of the horror genre, he created his own character portraits and took them to conventions hoping for a guest signature.

“People in line asked me ‘Where did you get that?’ They wanted to buy copies. Five of the prints I still sell today started out as portraits I created of people I admired and wanted to meet. Now, people like Dee Wallace and Danny Trejo have my stuff up in their office and home. It’s amazing.” Instead of attending conventions as a fan and asking for signatures, he’s now a guest who has people asking him to sign.

One of Robinson’s first big forays into professional art was working on a series of Vincent Price comics based on the life of the iconic St. Louis actor. The comics sold very well, but Robinson was never paid for his work. “I’m a big fan of Vincent Price. He’s one of my favorites of all time. I got involved with the comic out of a sheer love for Vincent Price and everything he stood for. To be taken advantage of like I was, it was a bitter pill to swallow.”

He said working on the Vincentennial was a chance to purge the bad memories of this earlier experience. “When I heard about the Vincentennial, I contacted Cinema St. Louis. I basically volunteered my talents. What can I do? How can I get involved? It spiraled up from there.” Other artists submitted traditional horror logos. Robinson decided to create something with an art deco style reminiscent of Price’s heyday. In coming months, he looks forward to meeting Vincent Prices's daughter Victoria Price in person to discuss licensed products created with the estate of Vincent Price’s approval.

Cinema St. Louis liked Robinson’s work enough they asked him to put together a gallery show atin conjunction with his appearance at Contamination. “I gotta say, I like St. Louis.”

After working on the Vincent Price Comics, Robinson received an offer from Horror Hound magazine. At that point, he realized he wasn’t going back into teaching. It was time for some tattoos.

“I always had a few, but I kept them hidden. Getting the big ones, that was really liberating for me. It put me over the edge. Now I’m becoming myself. Getting a degree and teaching, it was the safe route in life. I always loved art, and I knew I’d always do art, but I wanted to have this solid thing to fall back on. The problem was I fell back on it for 10 years. Sometimes you just have to lose things to get that kick in the but to do the things you always needed to do. Then again, if I did the things now I did 10 years ago I might’ve had a different outcome.”

His years as a teacher left him an early riser. Despite horror fans reputations for burning the midnight oil, he says he’s up by 7:30 every morning. “This is taking it easy. When I was teaching I’d get up at six. I find if I get up early, I get a lot more done. It’s gratifying to feel I’ve really accomplished something by noon.”

Just as an early rising former special education teacher isn’t what people typically expect of a horror artist, Robinson said horror fans aren’t typically what people expect. “Horror fans, they’re so different from the comic book people or the sci-fi people. When I go to a comic shop, I always hear people talking about the characters and what happens to them. At a horror con, I don’t hear people talk about the movies. They’re talking about each other. They’re talking to their friends. Horror brings people together, sure, it’s why they’re there, but it seems to me people who like horror share a lot more interests other than the genre. We love it. We love the extremity of the situations, the life or death, the chill down your spine, but when we get together with our friends and go to conventions, we’d rather talk about where we’re having dinner and how our kids are doing.”

As a fan, Robinson said he wished the horror industry itself was riskier. “Don’t just recycle names and plots to keep a franchise going. Get back to the roots, when film makers used practical effects. You’re not going to get gold from CGI, you’re not going to get it from remakes, you’re not going to get it from the monster of the week. Friday the 13th was so relevant because of the time it was made and the things happening then. Make things that feel that relevant now. It’s not like the world suddenly got too boring to inspire you.”

He said the best horror movies need to shock the audience, but the shock isn’t what makes them scary. “In the best ones, you don’t get to see a whole lot. They’re terrifying because your mind made it up, and your mind is a scarier place than my mind. You need a happy medium between a good story and characters you’re invested in so you want to see who survives or not.”

People interested in having their Vincentennial flyers and materials signed can visit Robinson at Contamination this weekend and decide for themselves whether their minds are scarier than his. Robinson’s gallery show at Star Clipper lasts through Sunday. After that, people can buy his artwork on prints, t-shirts, and more at his website.