The first thing one notices upon entering Caitlin Cherry‘s show at Luis De Jesus is her sensational palette so improbable that it seems to have dropped from outer space. Clashing vibrant colors contrast, oscillate and dazzle as though her paintings were a laser light show. As the shock of hue subsides, you find yourself drawn into a bizarre alternate world ruled by curvaceous mystic black women who exude eccentric glamour while confronting discriminatory stereotypes. Dressed like pop stars in halters, leggings and high heels, Cherry’s female protagonists appear eerily spotlighted by feverish intermittent beams that play across vibrant rainbow striations evoking oil spills and luminous digital bursts. The more you gaze, the creepier Cherry’s mesmerizing world seems. Some of her women, such as the model-esque subject of Ultraviolet Ultimatum Leviathan (2019), exude a languid allure, while others hold mirrors to society’s sexism and racial bigotry. The suggestively posed, bespectacled woman of grossly distorted facial features in Sapiosexual Leviathan (2018) serves as an incisive retort to the derogatory absurdity of blackface and “sexy librarian” clichés. Cherry titled her show “Threadripper” after a brand of powerful computer processing unit; through her paintings inspired by LCD technology, she reflects and processes exploitation of black female bodies. Tangential to this notion, LCD mounts brandish ostentatious canvases at humorous odds with the quotidian office furniture to which they are attached. In the smaller gallery, “Mother Comes to Venus,” Zackary Drucker‘s entertaining short film featuring real-life stars, resonates with Cherry’s work from a transgender perspective.

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles
2685 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90034
Show runs through Feb. 9