Audio By Carbonatix
Being a goth artist seems pretty clear cut, but for Jenny Fontana, adding a seven-year-old daughter to the mix changes things considerably.
“She’s totally to blame,” Fontana laughs when explaining the change in her color palette from drab grays to bright reds, purples, and pinks, “but I find that some of my darker subject matter becomes more interesting.”
At her first solo show the Mesa artist exhibits 20 new pieces of acrylic works with subjects ranging from the crazy-cute to the disturbingly delightful. The exhibit features a three-paneled story about a walrus’ rise to stardom influenced by a YouTube video, works with timid “bunny girls,” and two-headed dogs (a nod to the experiments of organ transplant pioneer Vladimir Demikhov). Influenced by Surrealism, Fontana weaves themes of fear and insecurity with lollipops and lively patterned backgrounds to create candy-colored duplicities of meaning.
“I don’t dawdle about what to paint next,” Fontana says about making time for both daughter and art. “I just go for it.”
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June 11-July 9, 2010
