Richard J. Oliver
In today’s advertising world, it’s almost impossible the avoid visual landscape of company brand names and logos. We endulge in a pop culture that is virtually paid for and made possible by “product placement”, creating often unwelcome interruptions. This Saturday, CHG Circa gallery’s artists have chosen to interrupt their own imagery in “Product Displacement”. Consumerism is a necessary evil to a healthy economy that has intrigued artists for decades. Perhaps the most famous example is Andy Warhol, whose works like the Campbell soup cans forced us to reckon with big business’ presence in our lives. Artists such as Eric Joyner, Buff Monster, Shag, Brandi Milne, Richard J. Oliver, Andrew Brandou, Ron English, and Sylvia Ji take a cue from artists like Warhol to publicize their own experiences with advertising. Richard J. Oliver, for instance, contemplates our dangerous addiction to gasoline and machinery, fueled by relentness promotion. His painting “Built to Last” counters this with a plea for cleaner and more efficient means of transportation. Brandi Milne found inspiration rather than frustration with her subject, a fictional opiate from the Game of Thrones novels/HBO series. She shares, “With the product being so ominous, I wanted to play on the sweet side of the snowmen – naively dunking cookies into the milk as if it’s your wholesome milk and cookies scenario. An homage to the turn of the century ads in which corporations sold you poison with a promise of health & happiness.” Her sentiment represents the show’s core theme, which balances the good and evil aspects of commercialism. Take a look at our preview of “Product Displacement” below.
Brandi Milne
Sylvia Ji
Shag
Ron English
Eric Joyner
Buff Monster
Redd Walitzki
Andrew Brandou
Last Saturday, 
Artists 
While in Western culture, bunnies are considered friendly, benign creatures, in Japan they represent lonesome spirits. 