Jim Shaw, Cake (Jim Head Clutch) (2010), via Patrick Painter

Patrick Painter, Inc presents a new exhibition of works by Jim Shaw, surrealist multimedia artist at their Santa Monica location. Currently included in this new exhibition entitled “CAKES, MEN IN PAIN, WHITE RECTANGLES, DEVIL IN THE DETAILS” are several large-scale works that include dual canvases and a multitude of working art media.  This new show serves to take a personal and experiential view of two dimensional artwork. Like many of his other exhibitions,  this show features many works that rely on unique and personal material from Shaw’s own intimate history and subconscious.

More text and images after the jump…

Patrick Painter and Jim Shaw, exhibition opening via Patrick Painter

Shaw’s artistic exploration is known for transgressing mediums, and exploring interdisciplinary art.  In  “CAKES, MEN IN PAIN, WHITE RECTANGLES, DEVIL IN THE DETAILS” the artist comes full circle, identifying his own dream states with the processes of others.  This work has strong parallels with other pieces which point to the paintings being a fragmented narrative.

Jim Shaw, Cake (Blake) (2011), via Patrick Painter

Shaw had previously invented a religion called Oism,  which  recycles and alludes  to America’s groundbreaking myths and crypto-sectarian beliefs.  In 1992,  Shaw began deeply exploring how America deems and upholds religion, and how it relates to the personal being.   Deeply inspired by his own visual language from his subconscious, Shaw explored what it meant to be religious as well as tormented by ingrained institutions.

Jim Shaw, Cake (Jim Bent) (2011), via Patrick Painter

This show specifically takes what Shaw had preciously been exploring- his own dream state- and expands it into the dream states of others. He addresses the uncomfortable side of being haunted by dreams and memories through a multitude of tormented figures and fragmented canvases, and depicts figuratively the incomplete nature of human consciousness.

Jim Shaw, Cake (Daniel at Wit’s End) (2011), via Patrick Painter

Jim Shaw, Cake (Brian Cringes) (2011), via Patrick Painter

-R. Leib

Related Links:

Exhibition Page [Patrick Painter]
Jim Shaw Artist’s Page [Wikipedia]

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 9th, 2011 at 11:16 am and is filed under Go See. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.