Here, Have a Little Art With Your Message

   “Peter J. Ketchum: The First Final Tour†is on display at the Moviehouse Gallery in Millerton, NY, and anyone who loves even slightly political art should take a long look. Ketchum’s art is not only eye-catching, full of bright colors and iconic figures, it has a message. But that message — mostly about prejudice, of all kinds — is cheerfully buried in grabby, colorful, eye candy. It’s a delightfully subversive collection.         

      Ketchum, who lives in Norfolk, but is somewhat reluctantly planning to return full-time to New York City (hence the title of this show) says he started out doing “academic art.†And then moved to painting people’s dogs. And then, he said, “I really got tired of doing things like that.†He’d been collecting ephemera and started to use it in his art. He uses pieces that speak to cultural attitudes, from sources as varied as  advertising, greeting cards, cut-outs or painted images, along with written commentary, none of which is his own, to craft art and make a statement, sometimes about consumerism or obscenity. (People now leave their old newspapers and photos in his mailbox).

   The result is a rollicking collection of works that run the gamut from small painted black-and-white, turn-of-the-century postcards to large oils or acrylics on canvas that recreate a page from an old comic book, say, or from an 1884 children’s alphabet primer, where “M†is for mouse and “N†is for Negro, with appropriate accompanying line drawings.

      “I’m very interested in prejudice,†says Ketchum. “Whether you’re gay or fat or Jewish or old or black or Italian, there’s something wrong with you. It just annoys me.â€

   Ketchum’s newer “scrap can series†plays on the current rage for scrapbooking, combining painted images with added pieces of advertising or slogans. One, about fat, is a large painting of a chubby girl in a red dress, surrounded by  cut-outs from old greeting cards and advertisements, all of which gleefully make fun of people, often children, who are heavy. His “coloring book series,†which he explains comes from a childhood spent coloring until late at night to escape the tensions of his household, includes a big picture of a cowboy on a brown horse, surrounded by bright green cacti and purple hills. Titled “AMBUSH†in big letters at the top, the caption reads,     

“ ‘ Come with me little boy,’ the tall and very handsome cowboy said.â€

   You can’t make this stuff up.

    One  large painting depicts a grinning black man with stereotyped big eyes and lips, wearing a big polka-dot bow tie. The image comes from a 19th-century English postcard, titled, “How would you like to spoon with him?â€

   Various pieces poke fun at  organized religion,  the Catholic Church, or the Yale Golf Club controversy.  

   “The pieces look simple but you have to look around,†Ketchum says. “They might look innocent, but they’re not.â€

   In an artist’s statement, he wrote, “I want the viewer to think long and hard about our culture and its endorsement of the unacceptably acceptable.â€

    Through Sept. 19, during movie showing times.

     Elsewhere:

     Works by 20-some artists, including Elaine de Kooning and Susan Rothenberg and a work on paper by Matisse, opened last weekend at the Ober Gallery at 14 Old Barn Road in Kent, CT, which is celebrating its first anniversary. Through Aug. 16. Hours: Wed.-Thurs. noon-5 p.m., Fri.-Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. www.obergallery.com.

    Artists Jennifer Marshall and Andrew Mockler will show at Joie de Livres, 7 Academy St., in Salisbury, CT, with an opening reception on Aug. 4, 5-7 p.m. wwwjoidelivres.com.

   Timothy Cahill, mixed media, and Nancy Reinker, sculptures, opens at Lake- ville’s The White Gallery on Aug. 2 with an artists’ reception Sat., Aug. 4, 4-7 p.m. Tel: 860-435-1029.

     “Barnyard Beauties,†works by Sonia Halapin, Tillie Strauss, Shauna Shane and Joan Jardine, opens at the Sharon Historical Society Aug. 4, with an artists reception Aug. 10, 5-7 p.m. wwwsharonhist.org.

   A new show opens with three artists at Bachelier Cardonsky Gallery on Aug. 4 with an artists’ reception from 3-5 p.m. www.bacheliercardonsky.com.

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