Bethelemy Toguo at Robert Miller Gallery

The Pregnant Mountain

Paintings, videos, photographs, performances, photographs of performances, installation- this exhibition doesn't limit itself. A tough message is addressed, though the playfulness of simplified figures with floating space add a sense of displaced quirkiness. Guns bananas and bread inside the mouth of the painting delivers a raw message. The images and symbols play with consumption, sexuality, and give off a sense of primitive human instinct and actions. The contrast, and ironic uses of texture to depict things of graphic nature, give the images a sense of mystery.

Though the titles and captions are less subtle.
“The AIDS issue cannot be solved thanks to the distribution of condoms” Benedict XVI

Though problem solving doesn't seem to be a key element of this show, exposure and exploitation of social issues definitely is.