The Art of Luke Chueh: Bearing the Unbearable

Luke Chueh's unique style of painting mixes street-styled pop art with playful and acerbic surrealism. Bringing together work from 2003 to 2009, during which time Chueh erupted from the underground LA art scene, this collection is the first to provide a glimpse of his striking oeuvre. In the vein of Keith Haring, Chueh explores dark themes in an almost cartoonish manner, creating an unsettling cognitive dissonance. In "The Prisoner," his signature bear is trapped inside a pill bottle, kneeling in supplication, and in "Two For One (The High Price of Enlightenment)," the bear has gouged out its own eyes in order to open a third eye. Chueh tends to work in acrylic and ink, deploying a limited but vivid palette, as in "Getting High/Going Low," a diptych in which, against a lush green background, a glassy-eyed bear head is a balloon ascending away from its body, which sinks in an oily mire. The strongest paintings, however, are the most personal%E2%80%94"Self Portrait 2009/ My Ball And Chain" features a melancholy Chueh sitting on and chained to%E2%80%94both figuratively and literally%E2%80%94a stone bear head. The works are accompanied only by brief personal statements from the artist and curators at galleries that have exhibited him, essentially letting the art speak for itself. Never one to alienate his audience, Chueh seems firmly ingrained in what gallery owners Bruce and Jan Helford call "an art movement of icons and relatability." Photos. (June)