Throughout art history, artists have been giving us their interpretation of the world as only they can see it. “Parallel Universe” which opened at Merry Karnowsky gallery last Saturday, presented this idea to a select group of artists- Seonna Hong, Nathan Ota, Travis Louie, Caleb Brown, DevNgosha, Hell’o Monsters and Sashie Masakatsu. Are these the images of an alternate reality or just what the rest of us can’t see? Quirky, outlandish, beautiful, surreal, imaginative and a little disturbing are all words that describe their combined definition of a ‘parallel universe’.
Seonna Hong with her work on opening night.
Each artist carefully employs their signature elements of design into this concept. As a take on alternate realities, there’s DevNgosha’s abstract illustration that incorporates Japanese comics, while Sashie offers a spacey “death star” hovering over a post-apocalyptic landfill that recalls his 2013 show, “Coacervate”. Others seem to take us to another dimension altogether. Caleb Brown gives us flying great white sharks on the attack (think Sharknado) and Seonna Hong transports us to cool lunar-esque landscapes. Her little girl subjects wander around mountains of thick paint that looks like cake icing. In all of these examples, there is a juxtaposition of detailed subjects that are vaguely familiar yet out of place in their strange surroundings. Through this dual combination of what is real and what is fantasy, the viewer is left to think about his or her own existence.
“Parallel Universe” Group Show, alongside “Monad” by Lezley Saar in the square gallery, is now on view at Merry Karnowsky Gallery through October 4th.
Nathan Ota with his work on opening night.
Guillermo del Toro is known as one of the most imaginative filmmakers working today. As the director of some of this generation's most inventive horror and monster genre films, from Hellboy (2004), Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Pacific Rim (2013), and Crimson Peak (2015), it should come as no surprise that del Toro loves monsters- and he has a creepy art collection to match. His treasured collection has been a work in progress since he was a child in Guadalajara, Mexico, and given its significant impact on del Toro's work and process, is now being brought to the public, courtesy of LACMA.
There was a resurgence of interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials in the 1970s after Swiss author Erich Von Daniken wrote "Chariots of The Gods." 
As if the imminent shopping season weren't already scary enough, a new exhibition at the Stranger Factory in Albuquerque is spreading a little holiday cheer with a dash of nightmares. The gallery's annual "Winter Salon" exhibition, now in its fifth installment, has gathered the Circus Posterus collective around the Christmas tree to present a selection of smaller paintings and drawings, and several hand-painted figures that take us back to the Island of Misfit Toys. The exhibit has plenty toy-sized offerings by artists like Max Lehman, Keely Reichman, Chris Ryniak, Carisa Swenson, HF Vol. 32 cover artist Travis Louie, while Brandt Peters and Kathie Olivas have collaborated on several scary-cute pieces.
On Saturday,