The cerebral paintings of Chris Mars pack a new show at Copro Gallery, with a collection of surreal works that very in both size and scope. His new solo effort kicks off on May 11 and runs through June 1. (Mars was last featured on HiFructose.com here and here.) Works such as “Relativity” (below) show the artist’s knack for embedding visages in the contours of structures.
“Chris’s work is influenced and inspired by his brother Joe’s experiences with mental illness, for which Joe was periodically institutionalized during Chris’s childhood, and with which Joe continues to struggle,” a recent bio says. “The sensitivity and empathy Chris developed relative to these experiences are evident in his visual art, which serves to raise awareness of the various issues associated with mental illness and its treatment, as well as confronting xenophobia in its various social and psychological incarnations.”
See more works from the show below.
Sometimes life throws a wrench into our comfy plans and we’re faced with some big questions. As an artist, the question often is – do I quit and accept the defeat? Or, do I rise up triumphantly and make something beautiful to recapture this moment? Anthony Hurd is an artist that has learned to embrace the surprises in life as well as in his work, creating images that seem to arrive to us from some distant land. He depicts psychedelic landscapes of perilous beauty.
An initial encounter with the work of 
The paintings of Jean Paul Langlois blend memories of 1970s sci-fi and Westerns of his youth, while also exploring the artist’s connection to his own native and non-native roots. Within his Old West scenes, you may also see a character from “Planet of the Apes” or references to Saturday morning cartoons. His "Origin Stories" series, in particular, re-imagines "mundane family stories and re-interpreting them through a cinematic lens."