Camille Rose Garcia:
Subterranean Death Clash

Solo Exhibit

Opening reception - Saturday, April 1st, 6pm-9pm

April 1, 2006 through April 29, 2006

Camille Rose Garcia:
"Subterranean Death Clash"On View April 1st - April 29th, 2006
Opening Reception Saturday April 1st, 2006 from 6 p.m - 9 p.m.

New York, NY April 2006 – Jonathan LeVine Gallery is proud to present Subterranean Death Clash, new works by acclaimed artist Camille Rose Garcia. Using narrative and fairytale structures, Garcia explores a futuristic scenario in which an overpopulated, overdeveloped world is forced to move into a series of underground caves. The exhibition includes nearly forty pieces, comprised of paintings, drawings, wall murals and a sculptural installation. The opening for Subterranean Death Clash is on Saturday, April 1st from 6pm-9pm at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. The exhibition will be on view through April 29th.
 
Using metaphor and symbolism, Garcia illustrates her cultural commentary of a world destroyed by the military industrial complex, overpopulation, and emperialism. The Royal Disorder, an elite group led by General Disorder and his army of poison bottles and castles, slash and burn their way through many different underworlds until they dig their way into the final cavern, the Land of the Dead. There they battle cave swans and death armies in a final Subterranean Death Clash.

“The Royal Disorder represents a capitalistic society at the end of it’s rope” explains Garcia, “These parasitic creations dig underground, blind with over consumption, and ultimately dig their own graves, a metaphor for how we live exploiting all of our resources.” Antarctic Suburban Outpost, the only painting that is stationed above ground, depicts the most elusive creature in the world, the Giant Squid, land marooned, as even the bottom of the sea has become uninhabitable.

Through beautiful line work and acute stylization, Garcia’s Subterranean Death Clash presents a psychological retreat, a cultural mirror that is violent, fashionable, and political. “The Earth is older than humans and will rebound, but the fate of our species seems to be precarious at best. I try to be positive and use humor in my work, even while knowing this.”

Camille Rose Garcia was born in 1970 in Los Angeles, California and grew up in the generic suburbs of Orange County, visiting Disneyland and going to punk shows with the other disenchanted youth of that era. Her paintings of creepy cartoon children living in wasteland fairy tales are critical commentaries on the failures of capitalist utopias. Creative influences include Phillip K. Dick, William Burroughs, Henry Darger, Walt Disney, as well as politically aware bands like The Clash and Dead Kennedys. Her recent solo show, Ultraviolenceland, explored ideas of violence and empire. Her work has appeared in Modern Painters, Juxtapoz, Rolling Stone, and Flaunt Magazine, and has been exhibited internationally. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the San Jose Museum of Art. Garcia will have her first museum show at the San Jose Museum of Art in 2008. She currently lives in Los Angeles.