Ghoul-Ambrose®
Creating Anyway, in Any Way since 2022
In 2025, the concept of ‘ARENA’ was born. Designed by Sickly, ARENA was created to be G-A®’s way of translating ideas and moods into experiences for our attendants.
With ARENA, our mission is set on creating a full experience that will leave the attendant affected.
During Covid, we learned it is possible for human connection through a screen.
In a Post-Covid world, we discovered there is a need for human connection beyond a screen. And something beyond networking events. Something kind of.. primal?
In Sickly’s words:
“I was halfway through my junior year in highschool when Covid hit. Even after 4 years, I still felt so isolated. There was less hunger for me to hang around people in close proximity for longer than i needed to anymore. Even while being mid-convo with people, something in me was unconsciously looking for a way out. I wanted to get away, to escape to the safety of my car, my home, my favorite choice of entertainment, to view and to think and share thought from afar, rather than to participate in that which no share, like, or repost could accurately represent. With the ARENA show, through the presentation of art, I could cope and heal from that pain of disconnection from something real----- a time yearned for that I never experienced-----I could heal others.
The Fences were intentional. The original idea was about physically separating the audience from the perfromer. I wanted to experiment with the idea of separating the audience from the work of art and seeing how that would change their experience or perception with the art.
Through my experiences with galleries and those types of spaces, I noticed that when people come to see an artist’s works, they are allowed to roam freely, drawing invisible instersecting lines of chaos all-over the floor with the pathways they create. When I attend galleries, it’s like, I don’t know what to do?? Where do I start, where do I end? How does the artist want me to consume this? How do they want me to view this? To me sometimes I feel like it’s all just..... cool. Another highlight for the story... another picture for this month’s photo dump... oh shit! I went to an art show last month?
But there’s something about an experience where you are instructed or directed in a certain way.... and it’s intentional..... that’s that shit. I leave.... affected. I imagine, in the ARENA, there is no social heirarchy. Everyone is body-to-body constrained to a specific formation... a specific motion... forced to interact physically with the art, and socially with one another. We installed the fencing to intentionally limit the wanderer, reduce the mental noise that comes with “where should I look first?” etc.., and to spark questions. To leave affected is to leave inspired in some fashion. And with ARENA, you have no choice but to leave affected. ”
We set out to turn a whiteboxed space in St. Louis into a playground for 3 days.
In Sickly’s words:
After finishing Ghoul-Ambrose’s 1st collection, titled: FORWARD TO SCHOOL, I decided there needed to be a presentation that brought you into my world. The main motivator behind creating ARENA was that I wanted you to feel what I imagined things would pan out to be like given the context. Sometimes I have these visions. Sometimes I would have these visions. Sitting in class. I felt like more was better while being physically present in the mundane. I’d imagine the indians jumping from out the SmartBoard® and shooting a music video scene to the song I was listening to. I imagined a big artist performing at our assembly, instead of our choir performing that old ass music from God knows when. Releasing a t-shirt online was a not quite enough to get the point across.