Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Preview: “Freaks and Americana” Group Show at CHG Circa

This Saturday, CHG Circa kicks off 2015 with a group show that celebrates, in essence, the dream of starting anew in "Freaks and Americana." The show welcomes newcoming artists to the gallery like Carol Liu alongside regulars Brandi Milne, Shag, Ron English, Tom Bagshaw, Yosuke Ueno, and Melissa Forman, featured here. Their pieces edge on the verge of odd, but also have the classic innocence of vintage circuses and their personalities. Check out our preview after the jump!


Brandi Milne

This Saturday, CHG Circa kicks off 2015 with a group show that celebrates, in essence, the dream of starting anew in “Freaks and Americana.” The show welcomes newcoming artists to the gallery like Carol Liu alongside regulars Brandi Milne, Shag, Ron English, Tom Bagshaw, Yosuke Ueno, and Melissa Forman, featured here. Their pieces edge on the verge of odd, but also have the classic innocence of vintage circuses and their personalities. No character could be more representative than the clown, as depicted by Ron English and Carol Liu, whose cotton candy world compliments those like Brandi Milne’s nicely. Milne’s painting takes us back to her show, “Here Inside My Broken Heart”, where she filled her landscapes with circus tents and amusement parks. There’s a combination of sadness and fantasy to this lifestyle that still resonates today. While the images are dreamy, the circus is a very real place where one could run away and escape reality.

“Freaks and Americana” exhibits at CHG Circa January 24 through February 7, 2015.

Carol Liu

Yosuke Ueno

Tom Bagshaw

Shag

Ron English

Melissa Forman

Annie Owens

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
This Saturday, CHG Circa will debut "Giants Among Us," a group show that challenged artists to interpret the figure of the giant and how it plays out in folklore, contemporary culture and their own mythology.The group of mostly narrative painters each had their own unique interpretation of what a giant might look like. In John Brophy's digital-looking painting, a triumphant character in a furry battle costume appears to be the giant compared to a small firefly resting on her finger. Korin Faught and Armando Marino also opt for subtle ways of approaching the theme. In Faught's Impressionistic work, a larger-than-average human skull hints at a giant's presence, while a dark shadow over a river makes us wonder what's about to happen in Marino's piece.
Obesity is gaining legitimacy as a health epidemic, especially in America, the birthplace of the fast food chain. But it's not a new issue for Pop Surrealist painter Ron English. First featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 12, his colorful anti-corporate and cartoon-inspired works have long addressed his interests in all things mass-produced, including food and our increasing tendency to over eat.
Japanese artist Kazuki Takamatsu (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 16) has a new solo show opening at CHG Circa on June 21st, “Spiral of Emotions”. The show’s title epitomizes the ghostly spiraling layers in Takamatsu’s handpainted figures that look like 3D graphics. He will exhibit twelve new gouache paintings exploring the emotional disconnect between the old and adolescent generations of Japan. These compositions may be precisely designed with a digital technique called Depth Mapping, but the final result captures feelings that cannot be planned. For his debut exhibition with Corey Helford last year, “Japanese Ideology of Puberty”, Takamatsu infused elements of Japanese pop culture and fantasy that are further employed here. His new subjects appear "lost" and floating through ethereal visions of death, spirituality, and an uncertain future. See more after the jump!
On Saturday night, Tokyo based artist Yosuke Ueno celebrated his fourth solo exhibition at Thinkspace Gallery in Los Angeles with "Beautiful Noise." Over his career, Ueno has built a fantastic, vibrant universe inhabited by characters like "Hapiko" and "Efil" ("Life"), inspired by Japanese spirits. Here, they find themselves joined by those familiar to Western audiences such as Charlie Brown and Mickey Mouse, decorated with elements of contemporary culture including glittery, graffiti motifs, and Pop iconography. Take a look at our photos from opening night after the jump.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List