Welcome to Disasterland

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As I approached the gallery entrance last night, I was greeted by a young woman clad in a black leather Mickey Mouse bondage outfit. She handed me a show card and let me pass. My kind of party! Welcome to Disasterland. Enjoy the pixie dust.

 

Disasterland” is Jose Rodolfo Rodolfo Loaiza’s much anticipated solo show at La Luz De Jesus. He had been on my radar since March of last year, when, at La Luz de Jesus’ Kitschen Sync show, I encountered “The End”, an unnerving rendering of Snow White dangling, lifeless from a noose, as dwarves and songbirds wept around her. Yeah, he went there!

 

Rodolfo Loaiza isn’t so much tweaking the Disney mythos, as he is kicking the gates of the Magic Kingdom open and letting these characters loose to join in our vagaries. Who’s to say that Cinderella wouldn’t buckle under the crushing weight of our tabloid voyeurism? It’s entirely plausible that after exposing her mons veneris to rabid paparazzi she might snap and shave off all her golden locks (poor Britney).  Wouldn’t the animated Dalmatians exhibit all the uncouth behavior that our actual dogs do? Would Prince Charming be more at home in The Castro district?  Perhaps that horrible Queen in Snow White is just snorting too many rails.

 

Nervous laughter permeated La Luz last night as patrons found the innocence of their youth mutated within the dank recesses of their adult dysfunction. Then again, maybe that was just me. This stuff is funny to be sure, but I suspect something sinister afoot here as well. You know that song by the Subhumans, “Mickey Mouse Is Dead”? I think Loaiza knows where the body is, and is getting ready to unleash Zombie Mickey upon us. At least I hope so. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he does next.

 

More than half of these paintings already had red dots last night, so if you’re looking to buy, you had better hurry. “Disasterland” runs through Sept. 2, 2012.

Text by Keith Ross Dugas – Photos by Lee Joseph courtesy of La Luz de Jesus Gallery

 

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