The dramas and battles we imagined our toys engaging in as kids come to life in Robert C. Jackson’s oil paintings. His work is populated by balloon dogs and apples that appear to be staging epic wars amid a landscape of colorful vegetable crates.
In one piece, red apples and green apples conduct elaborate maneuvers to invade each other’s forts with water balloons. Elsewhere, the red and green apples unite against a goliath-like watermelon who appears to have captured one of their own. In another work, the ballon dogs arm themselves with toothpicks for a sword fight of blue versus pink.
Amid these miniature conflicts, Jackson’s other work features delicately arranged still life scenes, where doughnuts, hamburgers, cakes, and pancakes are stacked in pleasing arrangements. His work is a lively visual feast that indulges the playful side of our imaginations.
In Louie Cordero’s surreal and riveting paintings, the artist’s command of texture and mood sets his work apart. Cordero, hailing from the Philippines, is currently featured in a group show at Gallery Poulsen titled “Inoperative Halo,” along with painter Eric White and sculptor Jud Bergeron. (The show runs through Dec. 21 at the Copenhagen venue.)
Anna Hoyle’s paintings of fake but humorous books are full of self-deprecation and universal absurdities (like the plight of depending on an IKEA pencil). One of our favorite details on her gouache paintings are the price stickers, which can carry their own jokes on each piece.
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