Dave Pollot revitalizes thrift store paintings with surreal or pop culture-centered flourishes. The artist recently painted giant banana duct taped to an existing mountainous backdrop for a piece auctioned for charity. The reason: Pollot says these conversations “can happen while people have little or nothing to eat.”
“I’ve always loved the idea that art is deeply personal,” the artist says. “I’m telling my own story with each piece, but every one is a little bit like a mirror, reflecting it’s meaning back to the viewer through his or her individual perception. More generally speaking however, there are a number of recurring questions and ideas that my work often deals with. I think that my body of work has challenged the idea that any one piece of artwork is without a place, especially if it can be retrofitted to reflect a more culturally relevant set of ideas. It’s also questioned the idea of who (generationally and otherwise) can claim ownership of the pop culture of a given time period – it’s sought to introduce a younger audience to older artistic styles, and a potentially older audience to a broader set of pop culture.”
See more of Pollot’s work on his site.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5sQ20mlmC5/
Painter Edward del Rosario's theatrical, yet controlled tableaus carry cross-cultural references. Often in the artist’s work, each of the characters seem to have their own narrative or motivation, creating a piece teeming with both humor and surprising complexity, once absorbed.
With his second successful solo show at New York's 
In