Patrick Fatica. Somehow I Thought You'd Save Me, Somewhere in January. 2009. Oil on panel.
C. Emerson Fine Arts' latest exhibit, Under the Influence, showcases the genre of contemporary art often dubbed 'pop surrealism' and occasionally 'lowbrow' because it bridges practices including illustration, screen-printing, custom toy production (or decoration), and so on. As such, the show may be a bit of a departure for the gallery, where offerings are frequently a touch more cerebral. (Only one artist in this show, Austrian Isabel Czerwenka-Wenkstetten adds a conceptual twist. After filling a TV frame with a distorted, fun-house-esque mirror, the artist photographed visitors as they regarded themselves in it during the exhibit's opening reception; the sculpture remains installed on one of the gallery's walls. In a statement, she describes the project as an attempt to "resist and fight back" against media images of the body.)
This article appears in Mar 11-17, 2009.