If you've ever played Cranium ("Now, Creative Cat, sculpt 'Dignity'.") then you've seen the offbeat artwork of "pervasive artist, painter, TV/Movie producer, toy designer, and humorist Gary Baseman. Beyond those way fun doodles lies a massive world of characters and creations - in paint and pencil, on vinyl and paper. Baseman's work is exotic, erotic, quirky, juicy, most always offbeat, and deceptively simple. And the more I see of it, the more I like it.
20" x 40" $8000
Baseman's new show at Billy Shire Fine Arts, Hide and Seek in the Forest of ChouChou running through August 11 at the Culver City, CA gallery introduces "chouchou" who "takes all your negative energy and hate, and turns it into creamy gooey love....out of his bellybutton." From what I gathered listening to Baseman's July 8 interview on KPFK 90.7's The Music Never Stops with host Barry Smolin, these little guys basically give love and need to be petted and stroked by naked ladies until they splooge joy all over the place. Neglected chouchou whither and die and their ghosts haunt the backgrounds of some of the paintings. The similarities between myself and these characters is striking.
20" x 40" $8000
At this point, I would say that Baseman's originals are mostly for committed collectors as opposed to casual, with large paintings going for $8000+. Vinyl and storybook iterations of his work can be found with some hunting (new blue hotchacha's coming soon!), and small originals can still be picked up for around a grand if you act fast.
20" x 40" $8000
With award-winning games, books, and international exhibitions in Europe and Asia, Baseman's a sure thing if you're concerned about your investment. But if you buy what you like you'll never be disappointed.
~benc
16" x 14.5" $1000
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