Scooter LaForge Munch Gallery

    

The first thing I noticed about these works, these densely packed and colorful paintings is how much I was smiling as I took them in. They are charming works to be sure, in fact I thought they were going to jump off the walls and start hugging me, that’s how tender they are. But they are also scary, like childhood nightmares where creatures and animals jump out at you ready to huff and puff and blow your house down. These are fractured fairy tales for adults (but they also appeal I would think to children). His paintings in the show (and in general) are full of so much outstretched and hidden psychological and personal meanings and feelings that I could only begin to take it all in on one initial viewing. They are also sexual and gay, comical and pop and very much in your face.  Some of the paintings have stuff attached to them, and there is an abundance of themes and images that make many appearances in his fantastic world.  Bears, and cats are favorites of his (one painting has a mommy cat spanking her kitten while he watches a R rates movie on an old fashioned Tv.) In fact his work in general is usually full of animals some with two heads and some just floating around and about, Mary’s little lamb and skeletons and clowns walking through landscapes full of Ensor like people staring at us are also favorite motifs of his. His colors are lush and generous, thickly painted and bright. These are on the edge outlaw paintings, Very East Village other, but also fashionable in the sense that LaForge also decorates tee shirts and clothes and loves to pose for photographers usually nude or semi nude. His show runs through Dec. 2.