Mier Gallery in West Hollywood is currently showing the first solo exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist Louise Bonnet. The exhibition simply titled Paintings opened on April 23rd and will stay on view through June 4th.
The show includes six large paintings and several drawings on paper showing Bonnet’s recognizable visual language and imagery. Her cartoon-like characters with no facial expressions feature exaggerated proportions of body parts that instead convey feelings of melancholy, nostalgia, and displacement. Hidden behind Ramones-like haircuts, they are telling their stories through over sized hanging noses and body postures that are limited by their disproportional limbs. The inspiration for these apathetic, inflated and bulbous characters comes from the perceptual distortions known as the Alice in Wonderland Syndrome that can be experienced when sleepless or sick. The large scale, lack of details and the classic feel of oil on canvas make these unique works more intense and complex in their absurdity.
