Dec. 15, 2020
This week’s picks include an artist who creates playful and graphic airbrushed paintings with darker undertones; women who are depicted pumping breast milk while listing their fears; and an artist whose manipulated clay forms match her own body weight.
Ben Sanders at Ochi Projects
Ben Sanders, “Opium Poppies with Razor Blades,” 2020. Image courtesy of the artist and Ochi Projects.
At Ochi Projects in Mid-City, Ben Sanders’ colorful paintings make a vibrant statement. Flowers splash across the graphic and airbrushed works, petals and stems coiling into complex configurations. Sanders’ graphic style recalls Memphis design (think Peter Shire) or perhaps a beachy tropical shirt from the 1980s he’s not afraid to playfully arrange colors and patterns to create ecstatic compositions, all while maintaining razor-sharp edges and seamless gradients. While delighting in these details, the symbology of the work begins to softly emerge: razor blades are echoed thro