Not Allowed To Like

Lori Earley

2007-10-05T11:57:00.001-07:00

Another veteran of Roq La Rue, the Jonathan Levine Gallery and Juxtapose, the eerie and beautiful art of Lori Earley is dominated by wan and melancholic characters. Unfortunately, this distorted classical art features cartoon-like renditions of women, often looking sad or disturbed, which makes it evidence of my desire to subjugate them. It is therefore art that I'm not allowed to like.

Ray Caesar

2007-09-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

Ray Caesar was born in 1958, in London, as a dog. Or so his bio would have you believe. There's nothing to indicate that he's fibbing, so we'll go with that. His art is very much in the style of the contemporary American Pop Surrealists, containing lots of fantastical other-human hybrids and eccentric characters. Many of the characters in his paintings have a certain haughtiness or aloofness or even ambivalence about them that contrasts them from the malevolent cuteness of the children that can be found in the work of Mark Ryden and others.

Ray has exhibited in galleries all over the world including Roq La Rue in Seattle and the LeVine Gallery in New York. I would claim to be a huge fan of his work and even go to see it in Manchester, England where it is showing at the Richard Goodall Gallery, but for the fact that some of his subjects are a bit sinister looking, and children, and as we all know men simply are not allowed to regard children in any way without being interrogated by the CP Nazis. It's art I'm simply not allowed to like.

Loretta Lux

2007-09-23T13:32:00.000-07:00

There is nothing intrinsically subversive or anything that could in any way be construed as inappropriate at all in Loretta's work. However, all of the paintings are of children, and any man who loves to look at paintings of children must be at least a bit odd. They must be forced to reveal the motivations behind their love of this kind of art and be made to feel it important to justify it. Failure to provide adequate evidence that their interest in this kind of art does not indicate immoral intentions should result in the man being regarded in a suspicious way. It's in the rules. For this reason it's art that I'm not allowed to like.

Mark Ryden

2007-09-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

Mark Ryden is one of the biggest names in Pop Surrealism. His work draws you in with soft, fluffy images in pastel colours, using such devices as doll-like characters with milky white skin and adorable anime-style eyes. You get subtle hints that all is not as it seems, as the circumstances of the characters become clear, before you are then assaulted with a blow to the back of the head. Starkly reminding us that despite the layers of pretense we've built around ourselves, we're not as nice as we'd like the rest of the universe to see us. That underneath we're malevolent meat, driven by our need to survive and capable of anything.

Mark's work has been exhibited all over the world and reviewed in such wonderful journals of Pop Surrealism as Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose. However, because he uses childlike pictures of innocence, the viewing of which could be construed as having an interest in inappropriate imagery, it is art that I'm not allowed to like.

Jake and Dinos Chapman

2007-09-20T14:10:00.000-07:00

What makes Jake and Dinos Chapman's work palatable to the art establishment, and Trevor Brown's not? Could it be that they are Royal College of Art graduates? I think it could be. Certainly they have tackled much the same kinds of topics as Brown; paedophilia, facism, fetishism, consumerism etc. But yet they feel no need to escape, are lauded by their critics and have exhibited in such illustrious galleries as the Tate Britain.

Because they've dared to risk vilification, and showing any interest in the work of the brothers Chapman would also risk castigation of the unwary viewer, their art is something I'm not allowed to like.

Trevor Brown

2007-09-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Inspired by JG Ballard's Crash, Trevor Brown started out adding wounds and bruises to pictures of smiling girls to produce faux booklets of medical illustrations. Since then he's developed his art into what I've heard termed "an assault on the eyes." There's no getting away from the (mis)perception that Brown is one sick puppy. His work is not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach. Many would stop to wonder what it is that makes a mind so twisted. Others would be so filled with revulsion and piqued by anger, they'd vilify the artist and anyone who expressed any interest in his work. It's been suggested that these reactions are indicative of the power of western culture and society to program our views of every subgroup within it and without it, and a good reason for Brown to attempt to heroically subvert that programming. He explores such taboo topics as paedophilia, BDSM, torture, sex, death, mutilation, religion, world politics, and fetishism. Married to a Japanese teddy bear maker and former bunny girl, he escaped from the less than accepting mores of western critics to Japan in 1993. Unwilling to follow the politically correct norms of the west, Brown refuses to be hindered by what is generally agreed to be permissable as subject matter.

Disturbing, objectionable, sacreligious, blasphemous. For sure. Subversive, certainly. Brown is not a popular man among the art viewing public and critics tend to avoid him and his work. What could a critic say? That it is not challenging enough? That it has no artistic merit? That it is exploitative and has nothing at all to say. I think that he has plenty to say, that we should all be listening and while we fear him and his work, refusing to even debate its merit, little will change.

Having said all of this, he has done a lot of commissioned work on album covers, and books of some of the stronger work are available from Amazon.

However Trevor Brown is a man one is definitely not allowed to like.

beinArt Surreal Art Collective

2007-09-20T06:10:00.001-07:00

This beautiful juxtaposition of sugary sweet with cold, vampiristic intent came from the mind and hands of Michael Hussar, whose work can be found in the private collections of such illustrious individuals as Warren Beatty, Leonardo DiCaprio, Francis Ford Coppolla and the US Library of Congress.

Michael's work contains harrowing, nightmarish imagery including satanic looking clowns and other nasty demons. It also forms part of an online collection of surrealist art that can be found at the beinArt Surreal Art Collective.

This collection of art is so vast I haven't been able to view every item in there. However, there is sure to be something to offend every taste and sensibility, to corrupt every innocent mind and to turn even the most conservative, good, clean-living people into the sons and daughters of Satan himself. Before you know it, you too could be fornicating with all manner of non-human and eating babies for supper. All the more reason why this is art that I'm not allowed to like.

Thinkspace Gallery

2007-09-20T05:50:00.001-07:00

From the wonderful Thinkspace Gallery on Santa Monica Blvd, LA.

To enjoy looking at dystopian images of genetic mutants such as this sad albino bunny man by Chet Zar must mean I want to be a sad albino bunny man too. Or maybe it means I'd like to create a sad albino bunny man or live in a world populated by sad albino bunny men. Or perhaps it means I'm attracted to men that look like sad albino bunnies. I can't know that, but I also can't NOT know that. Oh my! What if I do have sad albino bunny man love?

Another very good reason why this is art that I'm not allowed to like.

Sas and Colin Christian

2007-09-20T05:08:00.000-07:00

The husband and wife team of Colin and Sas Christian produces some incredible pop art. Sas's work is mostly the big eyed character art that you see here, where Colin prefers anime influenced silicone and latex sculpture.

Both are former students of Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design, and have their own company called Hot Box Designs.

Unfortunately, no matter what I think of the wonderfully sharp levels of detail in Sas's big eye work, nor Colin's breathtaking horror sculpture shown here, they did produce latex gubbins for the adult entertainment industry. That means that if I look at it, I could become a sick and twisted, immoral fetishist out to corrupt the children of the world. It is unquestionably art that I'm not allowed to like.

Ron English

2007-09-20T04:50:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I don't know whether to howl with laughter or wretch with disgust. When I was a boy, I had a recurring nightmare in which all the women in a room suddenly had their heads replaced by those of sheep. They all glared at me with their sheep eyes as I cowered in fear.

Ron English's Popaganda (The Art and Crimes of Ron English) is a wonderful showcase of Ron's work. He has had many great reviews in distinguished arts columns including the LA Times, NY Times, New York Magazine Review, The Guardian and a documentary on his work on the Artsworld TV channel.

Despite being exhibited in high profile pop art galleries all over the world, to profess delight at Ron's exquisitely crafted juxtaposition of images of contemporary issues would risk being labelled as a fiend. It's another example of art that I'm not allowed to like.

Fabrice Lavollay

2007-09-20T04:26:00.000-07:00

If all you see is a naked woman, the problem you have is yours and yours alone. Welcome to the dark, demented and dangerous world of Fabrice Lavollay, who will take you on a journey of disturbing fantasy.

As well as producing album cover and book art, Fabrice has exhibited in galleries across Europe.

Despite being hugely talented, the former artistic director of Sci-Fi magazine and a graduate of the Brussels St Luke Institute, produces art that many of my colleagues would find too sinister and an obvious indication of the state of my own mind. It is therefore regrettable that this is another collection of art that I'm not allowed to like.

The Venus Gallery

2007-09-20T03:52:00.000-07:00

The Venus Gallery is an exhibition of artworks at the critically acclaimed Roq La Rue in Seattle, WA. Showcasing the work of many of the biggest names in contemporary Pop Surrealism, Roq La Rue has featured on some of the most popular pop culture blogs on the Internet; such as Boing Boing! as well as big name art and design magazines such as Juxtapoz.

The first painting you'll see here is by Esao Andrews whose art is, as you can see, often dark. The second is by Amy Crehore, whose controversial Monkey Love series raised many eyebrows across the art world.

Because Roq La Rue is so avant garde, and hosts work by artists whose art often provokes strong reactions, it would be unfitting of me to proclaim my love of this great gallery. It contains art that I'm not allowed to like.

Natalie Shau

2007-09-20T03:23:00.000-07:00

Natalie Shau is a Lithuanian artist who specializes in blending photo manipulation, 3D design and digital painting to create her often creepy, gothic, fairytale figures. She is heavily influenced by religious imagery and fantasy art and has been commissioned to produce cover art for many albums and books. Because some of her subjects are often childlike, albeit often also dolls, or depict adult females in semi-nude repose, they are considered by some of my associates to be inappropriate for me to appreciate. The very talented Ms Shau produces art that I'm not allowed to like.

Jason Chan

2007-09-20T03:14:00.001-07:00

Jason Chan is a young illustrator with great talent and a bright future. He graduated from the San Francisco Academy of Art in 2006 and specializes in sci-fi, fantasy and video game art. Unfortunately, because some of his drawings, like this one, depict young women in distress it would be inappropriate for me to have an appreciation of his work. To admit to finding this work pleasing in any way would immediately have me marked as a deviant. It's art that I'm not allowed to like.