Creepy Cute
Featuring Artists:
Peter Adamyan | Jonathan Bergeron | Dee Chavez | Desiree Fessler | Kelly Hutchison | Larkin | Chase Tafoya
On View: January 12th - February 9th, 2013
Regular Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11-5pm
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Simultaneously bone-chilling and heart-melting is WWA Gallery's first exhibit of 2013 "Creepy Cute".
"Creepy Cute" juxtaposes the delicate and sweet with the grotesque and sinister through paintings by seven artists; Peter Adamyan, Jonathan Bergeron, Dee Chavez, Desiree Fessler, Kelly Hutchison, Larkin and Chase Tafoya. Each is known for subject matter that elicits visceral reactions of uneasiness, delight or both.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Peter Adamyan is an artist based in San Francisco who uniquely combines painting and sculpting for work on layered wood cut outs. Adamyan's work is filled with religious, political, and pop culture references that he confronts heartily with sardonic humor and surprising twists.
Jonathan Bergeron aka Johnny Crap is a painter and illustrator based in Montreal, Canada. His artistic career began with designs for concert posters and t-shirts but his skills in ink and oils have since led to exhibits throughout Canada and the United States. Skulls favor heavily in Bergeron's work though his paintings are not necessarily dark and macabre. Instead, much of Bergeron's lush palette depicts intriguing narratives with a touch of humor.
Dee Chavez examines the relationship between surreal spaces and childhood memories. Through her explorations, her work has translated into images of vibrant colors and dark unknown creatures that resonate with both children and adults alike. Her current body of work continues to embody the lighthearted expression and habitat of her creatures as she leads viewers to secret forests, underwater nesting holes and glowing entities off the beaten path.
Desiree Fessler creates candy colored works that exude pure whimsy and imagination. With a background in traditional painting, Fessler shares her passion and sheer joy for keeping childhood alive through comical depictions of playful animals and dancing sweets.
Kelly Hutchison, better known under the pseudonym Dark Vomit, was born in Texas in 1974. After moving to San Diego in the mid 1990s, Hutchison embraced the Southern California punk-rock lifestyle and started creating art with found objects. His painting style has since materialized to combine Pop Art and Surrealism with heavy macabre, political, social, humorous, and iconic undertones. Hutchison's body of work comprise of album covers, comic books, t-shirts, posters, skateboard decks, video games, commercial graphics and public art. In his recent fine art paintings, Hutchison uses modern day sensibilities to pay homage to traditional pin-ups.
Larkin amalgamates surreal peculiarity with Victorian aesthetics for paintings complimented with borders of sculptural inclusions, found objects, and fiber techniques. Personally symbolic and with dark whimsy, his work summons mythical creatures of land, sea, and air and juxtaposes them with the spectrum of human emotion.
Chase Tafoya grew up in Merced, CA and looks to his background and relationships to create gritty paintings and illustrations infused with urban and street culture. Besides numerous exhibits all over the world in places such as Spain, Germany, Tokyo, and across the United States, his work can be found on projects and collaborations with Travis Barker, Soul Assassins, DSTROYR, The Lovewright Co. and many more. Being self taught, Tafoya's incredible technical achievement in portraiture is further proof that it takes true passion and dedication to craft a successful artist.
For more information and an upcoming exhibition schedule, please visit http://www.WWAgallery.com
