Artist Jeremy Fish, with his series “Anger Management” at Black Book gallery.
Last November, San Francisco based illustrator Jeremy Fish (covered here) suffered from a brain aneurism that changed his life and approach to artmaking. The twenty works featured in his exhibition “Anger Management” at Black Book Gallery in Denver were created between surgeries to treat his condition. Fish has had to seek new ways to reduce stress, including visiting an anger management specialist, inspiring the series’ title.
In new ink, acrylic on wood, and custom skate deck pieces, Fish draws his cute and creepy animals like owls, beavers, jackalopes, and candy skulls with brainy motifs. Matching this concept is the overall color palette, which is mostly monochromatic black and white with a brain-colored pink. Fish’s characters are often shown unzipping their skins to reveal new forms underneath. “Anger Management” is perhaps the artist’s most revealing series, as he shares his struggles with things like quitting smoking and caffeine to better his health. He even adopted a new cat named Mrs. Brown, who makes an appearance as a new character in his illustrations.
“Mrs. Brown” the cat assists Jeremy Fish with a new ink piece.
In an interview with the gallery, Fish said, “After determining that my workaholic lifestyle, constant rage, and Italian temper had probably contributed to cause this aneurism, I needed to learn to control them to move forward in my life and reduce the threats to my health. My neurologist told me if I freak out or get too pissed off, it could rupture and I could have a severe stroke or die. The imagery I painted and drew were a combination of the things that cause anger in my life, stressful and pleasant memories, and also some of the things that help calm me down.”
“Anger Management” by Jeremy Fish is on view at Black Book gallery in Denver through July 25th.
