Local artist Brent Elam premieres new show at Casa Nueva
Many patrons of Casa Nueva, 6 W. State St., are especially familiar with its walls that display local art for purchase, the artistic décor having local origins akin to the roots of the eclectic cuisine.
Chillicothe native Brent Elam is no stranger to Casa’s art exhibitions, having had annual shows in the cantina for the past four years. His latest show “Pop Culture and Other Delights” is set to adorn Casa walls Thursday, featuring 32 finished pieces, all for sale.
Elam is an art education graduate of Ohio University, having taught art for the past 20 years. He also has an ongoing show in Columbus tattoo shop Short North Tattoo, hanging up until the end of October. Elam claims Banksy, Salvador Dali, and OU professor Aethelred Eldridge as major influences.
Elam’s work utilizes many mediums, from acrylic to spray paint and even 3D objects. The pieces are exaggerated caricatures of pop culture icons covered in intricate tattoos of symbolic nature.
“Everybody has emotional scars that nobody can see,” Elam said. “The tattoos in these pieces are representative of those scars brought to the surface. How they, when made visible, can tell their own story.”
However, Elam said he still wants to create works which viewers can still enjoy in a lighter sense.
“Some of them are funny, some are poignant, and some are just nonsensical. I want people to have fun with them, and hopefully see the substance underlying the funnier side,” Elam said.
“Batman Afterhours” depicts the perennial-comic hero dressed in his underwear, holding a beer, with a large tattoo reading “ORPHAN” across his protruding gut. Uncle Sam is also featured, tattooed with a skull wearing an Indian headdress, and adjoining statement “I hope you enjoyed the blankets.”
Elam’s demented surrealism offers a different perspective on familiar childhood characters.
“We have all had an attachment to a pop culture icon, whether it be a comic hero or a character from movies or television,” Elam said. “Everyone will connect differently, and I think that’s the nostalgic beauty of it. Each one will mean something different to anyone who looks at it — all based on their own personal memories.”
The event is organized by Casa cook and art curator •Tito Martino and will be sponsored by •Pabst Blue Ribbon. There will also be a performance by the Hocking River String Band.
“We just ran with the idea of local ingredients, local food, local art,” Martino said. “You can purchase pieces at the show, or anytime you’re at Casa you can tell your waiter which one you want and they’ll ring you up.”
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