Factory Fresh Gallery

ROMAN KLONEK & JIM AVIGNON

Opening Reception FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10, 7-10pm

Join Factory Fresh on December 10th as we welcome artists Roman Klonek and Jim Avignon and their unusual breed of pop art for their show Speedy Wonderland.

Roman Klonek is a Polish artist who creates figures from woodprints, composed of vibrant colors and seeming to be in constant motion. Influenced by old cartoons from Eastern Europe, Klonek’s figures have a vintage, wide-eyed feel to them, but his predilection for juxtaposing his happy characters against awkward situations (including but not limited to: injuries, arrests, infiltration by monsters) reminds you that his work lives far from the pages of the Sunday morning comics.

Jim Avignon, a German pop artist, designer and musician who creates similarly disarming work with a cartoon feel. Avignon currently calls both Williamsburg and Germany home, and began his career as an artist painting the walls of clubs in places like Munich and Berlin. As a result of this heritage, his work is inherently urban- his figures are crowded and sometimes exhausted, but always lively and surprising, lurking in and wandering around the canvas. If Avignon’s work were a show on the Cartoon Network, it wouldn’t be the one you wanted your children to see but the one you yourself were enthralled by, following the tired eyes and furrowed expressions of animations that stray far from realism yet furrow their brow in an uncannily familiar manner. His work is a garish caricature of the self that’s hard to keep your eyes off of- it’s no wonder his designs have appeared everywhere from Swatches and sweatshirts to the tails of airplanes.

Klonek and Avignon will be collaborating on some pieces but working mostly separately.

The show opens December 10th at 7 pm, and runs until January 16th. Don’t miss it.

Factory Fresh is located at 1053 Flushing Avenue between Morgan and Knickerbocker, off the L train Morgan Stop