Paul Chatem
Looking at Paul Chatem’s latest body of work is like playing with a demonic child. Irresistibly cute yet somehow menacing, the new two and three-dimensional pieces in his solo show at Shooting Gallery, “Another Man’s Hero,” beckon the viewer to giggle at them and touch them at a first glance. Upon the inevitably closer inspection one must engage in to turn the cogs and wheels in his paintings of hellish cartoon characters, a sense of discomfort begins to seep in. Executed in a palette of flaming reds and frenzied yellows, the figures of monsters, many-eyed men and pigs seem to taunt us with spindly fingers or plead for help with furrowed brows. Chatem is a fan of classic animation and a self-proclaimed advocate for social equality, and his work subtly hints at political themes as vengeful businessmen in suits dart about his canvasses as if escaping after a heist. As we continue to turn the wheels, we become entrenched in a world where chaos reigns and the darkest of impulses go unchecked. – Nastia Voynovskaya
