California amusement parks like Disneyland are multi-layered entertainment fantasies, offering created environments for escapism and joy-filled distraction. These tourist sites entice visitors with adventurous rides, performances and tantalizing food. Similarly, “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” at La Luz De Jesus Gallery captures emotions and lassos in the senses, featuring over 150 artists working in a Pop-Surrealist style also known as Lowbrow art. This movement, rooted in the underground comix scene, hot-rod culture and punk music of the 1970s, emerged as a response to the elitism of the contemporary art world. Director and Curator Bernadette McConnell sought to showcase works with an overarching vision of accessibility. The space, featuring recent 12 x 12-inch pieces and some 3D works, offered a stay-cation refresher from our current dismal global malaise.

Renée Tay’s Spider Kitty held my eyes hostage in this sprawling show. The vintage-toy assemblage, with its playful kitten on top and lollipop hues, evoked an Adams Family-meets-Alice in Wonderland scene. The encircling bonnet of roses added a whimsical touch to the glossy, glazed form. Another highlight, Cheeseburger Zombie by Shame, portrayed a drooling fast-food delicacy in acrylic paint, with hands raised and poised to take giant steps against a background of suggested roaming zombie figures.

Touring this visual buffet introduced me to interpretations of goldfish, flies, Elvis, crows, monkeys and dogs. Additional striking works were a cigarette-smoking cat, a reclining rabbit and a zebra dominating a blood-orange galaxy background.

The intrusive, confrontational portraits—human, cartoon, and animal alike—provided a crash course in the Lowbrow art movement. Overall, “Everything but the Kitchen Sink” offered a delightful escape into a world of Pop-Surrealist imagination, much like the fantastical realms of theme parks.

La Luz De Jesus Gallery
Everything But the Kitchen Sink
runs through August 31, 2024