Rob McBroom

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"Heavy Petting" press/postcard image

Rob McBroom-Heavy Petting postcard

"Heavy Petting" press/postcard image | Media List

Rob McBroom-Heavy Petting postcard

Statement

Postcard image for my Heavy Petting solo show at Fox Tax in Minneapolis.

14 works based on the poem, The Owl & the Pussycat by Edward Lear.

Curated by mplsart.com

Opening reception: 11/14/2009

Reviews

"Logos R Us"
By Mary Abbe, Star Tribune
Published Novenmber 27th, 2009

Minneapolis painter Rob McBroom finds a satirical gold mine in Victorian nonsense verse.
Maybe the word "pussy" was just an innocent purr back in 1871 when Victorian poet Edward Lear penned the nonsensical love poem "The Owl and the Pussycat" for which he is best remembered.

There is, after all, such coy catlike sibilance in the lines the Owl
sings to his love as they sail under the stars in their pea-green boat:
"O lovely Pussy,/ O Pussy my love,/ What a beautiful pussy you are,/
You are,/ You are,/ What a beautiful Pussy you are."

Still, it is hard for the mind of a modern reader not to wander into
thickets of innuendo at such lyrics. Which is exactly where Minneapolis
artist Rob McBroom intends to lead visitors in his clever new show at
the Gallery @ Fox Tax, in northeast Minneapolis through Dec. 31.

In a dozen 3-foot-square panels, McBroom illustrates the 12 short
stanzas in which Lear rhymes the exotic adventures of the mismatched
couple who eloped with "some honey,/ and plenty of money,/ wrapped up
in a five pound note." No doubt the poem's enduring popularity is due
in part to the glamour of it all. What young lovers wouldn't envy a
richly provisioned, yearlong honeymoon to a tropical island where
compliant natives offer cheap services, free food and beach parties
where the happy couple "hand in hand,/ on the edge of the sand,/ danced
by the light of the moon."

Lear (1812-88) made his fortune as a sketch artist and writer of
limericks and doggerel, a career that appeals to McBroom, whose own
roots are firmly planted in a lowbrow art movement inspired by
cartoons, anime characters and pop culture. A 1992 graduate of
Minneapolis' North High School, he set out to be a starving cartoonist
but expanded his aspirations to hungry artist, as upscale culture
became more inclusive of such once-disparaged art forms as balloon
animals and kitsch figurines. A former manager of Minneapolis' now
defunct Ox-Op gallery, he has shown his work in Tokyo, Amsterdam,
Barcelona and various Twin Cities venues. For the past decade he has
routinely entered the prestigious National Duck Stamp competition, from
which his paintings are only occasionally disqualified for unspecified
reasons.
Logo mania

As a connoisseur of promiscuous capitalism, McBroom appreciates the
power of logos as branding tools and ornamental eye-catchers. His
paintings are full of them. Each image is designed like a loopy,
free-form puzzle, incorporating images of up to 200 different logos,
slogans and pop icons. One wing of the owl in the "Honey and Money"
panel, for example, is the Mutual of Omaha logo; his beak alludes to
Vassarette brassieres, and his eyes incorporate logos for McDonald's
and Republicans for Obama. Other parts of the bird include the Nestlé
emblem and the little Scotsman from Thriftway Foods, a local grocery.

The logo-embellished Pussy lolling across Owl's lap in that panel is
drizzled with honey-colored glitter and has a plastic action figure
embedded in her leg. As a painterly challenge to himself, McBroom glues
3-D objects to his canvases and slathers on pigment until they blend
into the design. Other panels include a pair of Calvin Klein briefs, a
pen, deodorant bottle, nipple clamps, Nintendo cartridge, a plastic
banana and a rosary. There are also little jokes in cartoon speech
bubbles.

McBroom's penchant for logo sampling and modernist baroque clutter
doesn't simplify his task, however. He goes to extraordinary lengths to
design each painting and to get the scale, angles and lighting right.
He went to a boat show and made hundreds of photos of cruisers from
myriad angles as studies for different boat images. To prepare just one
of Pussy's pinup-style poses, he mail-ordered a sexy Australian sailor
uniform and had a gal pal model it. In the finished version of that
panel, titled "Small Guitar," the owl croons and strums while the pinup
Pussy poses on the prow of a vessel speeding through foaming waves
sparkling with Swarovski crystals.

That ours is a thoroughly branded world is not news. We all pay
premium prices for the privilege of sporting choice logos on our
clothing and cars, ride in advertising-wrapped trains and buses, and
gaze at buildings embellished with emblems of commerce. McBroom's
genius is to show playfully how the world might look when the invisible
hand of the market is manifest on absolutely everything, including the
stars above. They're Subaru's.

Mary Abbe • 612-673-4431

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