dude! the LA times reviewed one of our paintings! there is even a little picture in it... crazy. here's our snippit:
There's a message amid the humor
What do Al Gore, Dracula, Madonna, Hitler and Abraham Lincoln have in common? They all make cameo appearances in "Empire 2 (Survival)," a hilarious, horrifying painting by David Quan and Colin Chillag. The Phoenix-based painters feature five additional works in their show at Angstrom (formerly Q.E.D.), but "Empire 2" is so rich with political commentary, cultural critique, crude humor and language play that once it ensnares you, you may not make it to the others.
The painting, just larger than 6 by 8 feet, is a feast of irreverence, a sprawling take on the American appetite for violence and spectacle. The action takes place in Iraq, by way of the Roman Coliseum, as filtered through American media. The single lion that appears in the crumbling arena occupying half of the canvas is a docile creature, spreading its jaws for a circus trainer. Mayhem erupts all around them in the form of bubble-headed cartoon figures that stab, shoot, kick, spear and otherwise hammer away at one another. In the midst of it all, cheerleaders in chadors ("Jihotties") raise red pompoms and a generic, blank-faced political couple poses for the cameras. In one of the box seats on the upper tier of the packed house perches a vulture, wearing a business suit and declaiming, "Where you see tragedy, I see opportunity."
Outside the stadium, oil pipelines gush blood, a bulldozer shoves piles of corpses off to one side, and propaganda, American-style (an I Love New York T-shirt, a pack of Twizzlers red licorice), parachutes down from above. Quan and Chillag are savvy at sampling different visual idioms, reworking iconic war photographs, adapting television formulas and capturing the graphic immediacy of the comics page. Their satire is beautifully, painfully barbed, trading on familiar symbolism. Another of many examples: On one of the upper arcades of the arena, a janitor sweeps out a clutter of skulls. Below, where they are destined to fall, stands Uncle Sam and one of the little blue cartoon figures. The blue guy pleads to the emblem of American patriotism, "Please, stop," but Uncle Sam hushes him with a finger to his lips as pools of dark blood spread at his feet.
Angstrom Gallery, 2622 S. La Cienega Blvd., (310) 204-3334, through Oct. 14. Closed Sundays and Mondays. www.angstromgallery.com
you can see the whole thing...
HERE!
