ARTISTS
Alake Shilling: Buggy Bear Crashes Made in L.A.
Buggy Bear Crashes Made in L.A. (2025), Alake Shilling鈥檚 monumental inflatable, produced in partnership with Art Production Fund, depicts one of her signature characters鈥攁 stern-eyed bear in a hot-pink convertible鈥攁top a colossal strawberry-studded shaped hilltop with daisies. Installed outdoors, the sculpture reflects Shilling鈥檚 long-standing interest in scale, whimsy, and surrealism. Like her ceramic works, this figure balances cuteness with unease, inviting viewers into a world of fantasy. Shilling conjures an emotionally textured ecosystem, drawing from cartoons, evoking California funk鈥檚 playful materiality and the often grotesque figuration associated with the Chicago Imagists, a group of artists working in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s known for their cartoon-like forms, bold colors, and irreverent humor. Her work treats character and surface as containers for humor, ambivalence, and estranged joy.
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Buggy Bear Crashes Made in L.A. (2025), Alake Shilling鈥檚 monumental inflatable, produced in partnership with Art Production Fund, depicts one of her signature characters鈥攁 stern-eyed bear in a hot-pink convertible鈥攁top a colossal strawberry-studded shaped hilltop with daisies. Installed outdoors, the sculpture reflects Shilling鈥檚 long-standing interest in scale, whimsy, and surrealism. Like her ceramic works, this figure balances cuteness with unease, inviting viewers into a world of fantasy. Shilling conjures an emotionally textured ecosystem, drawing from cartoons, evoking California funk鈥檚 playful materiality and the often grotesque figuration associated with the Chicago Imagists, a group of artists working in Chicago in the 1960s and 1970s known for their cartoon-like forms, bold colors, and irreverent humor. Her work treats character and surface as containers for humor, ambivalence, and estranged joy.
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