Cartoon Art

Painter Jorge Jurado's work at "A Multitude of Memories" reminds us of Jeopardy, if Alex Trebek's show were designed by a stylish guy from Colombia. Using layers of images, his canvases come off like a clever quiz -- viewers at the recent opening were seen jabbing fingers at the paintings and guessing names. Jurado's technique is to lay down a background of soaring, psychedelic cartoon colors and lava lamp shapes. Next comes a cartoon character in the same flat plane, underneath a razor-sharp silhouetted figure from Manet or Velasquez or some other Great Master type. Finally, creeping in under the famous image is a photorealistic chair or falcon. The thin black lines of the cut-out slice through the colorful chair or falcon (or other mundane object), which you now realize dominates the composition. How could you have missed it at first? The brain flips back through the experience the eyes just had: detailed hyperreal bicycle, conquistador head, and Porky Pig, maybe, on a freaked-out Marvin the Martian background. This is when you start playing Jeopardy, clicking in to shout "What is Mickey Mouse's hand shot through with a Grecian urn via Whistler's mother?" If it sounds lysergic, it is, but how many times does a trip leave you feeling smarter?

The show continues through Dec. 22 with Anibal Catalan's "Free & Mobile."
Nov. 20-Dec. 22, 2007