Grotesque Paintings of Talking Penises
October 8, 2012 2:06 PM Subscribe
On a deadline: Help me find the name of an amazing, bizarre, crude, disgusting artist whose childish paintings of people in extreme situations surrounded by thought/speech balloons/bubbles I saw in a Lower East Side gallery around 2010-2011.
So, I stumbled into an LES Gallery sometime in the last two years (maybe near Orchard? Broome? No idea.) and there was this amazing exhibit of these fairly large paintings done in a crude, childish style. The main thing that tied them all together was the use of word balloons (thought bubbles?) that came from both the characters themselves, but also their genitals, guns, asses and various inanimate objects.
The scenes depicted tended to be orgies or gunfights or over-the-top flop houses. He also, I think, had a not-exactly-clear but definitely passionate relationship with hip-hop culture.
99% sure the artist was a man. 75% sure he wasn't American.
One painting I remember in particular had a long-haired, bearded mass shooter. There were lots of thought bubbles coming from his head ("I'm sorry!" "I'm under mind control!") and his gun. Also, from his victims off-panel ("Help me!" "I'm dying!").
It looked sort of like the work of Erik Tildemann, but I don't think it was him because I can't find any trace or reference to these thought balloons, but I can't be totally sure.
Would love it if anyone could send me in the right direction. I've come up with nothing so far.
So, I stumbled into an LES Gallery sometime in the last two years (maybe near Orchard? Broome? No idea.) and there was this amazing exhibit of these fairly large paintings done in a crude, childish style. The main thing that tied them all together was the use of word balloons (thought bubbles?) that came from both the characters themselves, but also their genitals, guns, asses and various inanimate objects.
The scenes depicted tended to be orgies or gunfights or over-the-top flop houses. He also, I think, had a not-exactly-clear but definitely passionate relationship with hip-hop culture.
99% sure the artist was a man. 75% sure he wasn't American.
One painting I remember in particular had a long-haired, bearded mass shooter. There were lots of thought bubbles coming from his head ("I'm sorry!" "I'm under mind control!") and his gun. Also, from his victims off-panel ("Help me!" "I'm dying!").
It looked sort of like the work of Erik Tildemann, but I don't think it was him because I can't find any trace or reference to these thought balloons, but I can't be totally sure.
Would love it if anyone could send me in the right direction. I've come up with nothing so far.
If this is an aesthetic you're into, you may also enjoy Henry Darger, though his work is more epic in scale.
posted by a halcyon day at 7:15 PM on October 8, 2012
posted by a halcyon day at 7:15 PM on October 8, 2012
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posted by StopMakingSense at 2:45 PM on October 8, 2012