Vendor Spotlight – Dark Matter

Hello everyone, Kev here welcoming you to the seventh edition of the Oddmall Vendor Spotlight! This will be a recurring series to share with you all some of your local vendors and attendees of Oddmall shows, highlighting their incredible talents, wonderful personalities and amazing creations. 

Content Warning: I want to preface this week’s spotlight with the note that what Jordan does with his art is hyper realistic and incredibly detailed. If you aren’t comfortable with gore or horror, this is your warning to proceed with caution or turn back now 🙂

This week, I got a chance to ask Jordan about his business, Dark Matter. Jordan is newer to Oddmall shows, but fits right into our themes of horror and creepiness. Dark Matter specializes in dark art that lines up perfectly with Halloween and haunted houses, but Jordan’s use of materials allows for the expansion into home decor for anyone who is looking for a unique piece above their mantle or on their coffee table!

Jordan began crafting in Elementary school and has found it a hobby of his ever since, however it wasn’t until recently that he began to share his creations with the world. “In 2024 I took the leap of faith into vending. I was not real sure how the general public would react to what I created,” he shares, regarding his unique art stylings. “My first show was the Halfway to Halloween flea market in Medina, then my second show was Emporium of the Weird! After the first show I was hooked!” With the positive feedback he has gained, it has given more ideas and expanded his creativity, and as such he plans to attend even more shows in 2025!

As it is with art, Jordan spent a long time perfecting his craft, with plenty of trial and error along the way. “Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been creating crazy things but it’s gotten more bloody, gruesome and more detailed the older I got,” he adds. “In 2019 I started decorating my house again but now with adult money, creating more things and pushing the DIY versus store bought items.” Although he continued creating and perfecting his art, it was in 2021 that Jordan started working at Chippewa Lake Slaughterhouse, which introduced him to high quality items and how to make them. After attending a few Halloween and horror themed shows, he felt inspired to begin creating things that he felt were unique to the market, but also enjoyable projects to take on!

My favorite element of Dark Matter’s pieces are the variety of everyday items being used that are completely transformed and brought to life by Jordan. He shares that items are often found at auctions or by going thrifting, but the majority of the time it’s a matter of finding a piece on a shelf or in a scrap pile and building around it. “I will find a way to incorporate a little bit of everything without making it look ‘too busy,’” Jordan explains when discussing his process. “I honestly don’t go into a project with a set goal in mind. I like to just let it happen when I’m creating pieces. Makes it more fun to see where you end up when you stand back and call it ‘done.’”

Now I’m sure by this point, some of the images shared have caught your attention as they had mine. For the sake of the reader’s ease of mind, I did have Jordan clarify that he was indeed creating these pieces and not finding them at the cemetery next to the Oddmall Outpost. “Let me contact my lawyer before answering that!” Jordan jokes, before sharing his process. To create such lifelike and detailed representations, it requires multiple layers of material and a lot of painstakingly long hours to develop a technique that works for each project. In just a few years time, Jordan has truly evolved stylistically and creatively, and he is far from done with new projects being shared on his facebook regularly! 

While his initial audience for his artwork was haunted house and Halloween props, Jordan has begun to expand his product line in this last year. “My main target is haunted houses, yes; but home haunters eat it up. Even film makers and event collectors,” he adds while discussing some of his many creations. “Then we have home decor which is where I’m focusing this year. I’m trying to target a few new areas this year; I know there are Halloween crazies out there that love horror and art, and they want to display that all year – not just Halloween!”

As Dark Matter grows, they continue to get noticed more and more within the horror and art communities – most notably when the above creation went viral on social media – gaining 8.6 million hits in just its first 24 hours! And although not everybody has the space to fit a hanging pirate in their home, Jordan offers many other items such as the corpsed skeleton hands that sold out at Uncensored’s 2024 show. 

While the best place currently to find Jordan and Dark Matter is at upcoming shows, be sure to follow his Facebook page where you can see recent and upcoming art projects, as well as announcements for the large number of shows he will be attending this year – including Emporium of the Weird which is just around the corner! Thank you to Jordan for taking the time to speak with me, and I can’t wait to see what else you bring for us in the future!

You can find more from Dark Matter at:
Dark Matter’s Facebook Page
Dark Matter’s Next Oddmall show! 
Keep an eye out for future additions to the Oddmall Outpost! 

  

Want to be featured in your own Vendor Spotlight? Contact Kevin at Kevin@Oddmall.info or fill out the application here!

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