~ see the online gallery ~

As a child and teenager, Florida painter
Michael "Pooch" Pucciarelli was raised on a diet of Walt Disney World, Ray Harryhausen films, H. P. Lovecraft novels, Comics, and Florida tourist traps. Later on Pooch (as he goes by) was exposed to artists and illustrators such as Frank Frazetta, MC Escher, Dali and Bosch, complimenting his appreciation of suburban weirdness with artists who mined fantastic subject matter with equal parts technical skill and reckless abandonment to the imagination. Frequent trips to Walt Disney World with his family opened Pooch's mind to he world of imagination made tangible, which would manifest themselves later in his "rides" series. Images of the fantastic and surreal were forever ingrained upon Pooch's mind, and he spent countless inspired hours learning to draw. This interest in the unusual and his love of creating art led him to a successful career as a tattoo artist, which in turned honed the technique and discipline needed for his paintings…rendering each painting fully in pencil before picking up a paintbrush.

Pooch's paintings are intended to hold the viewer's attention, which is quite a challenge in today's TV, film and computer age. His art is a visual cocktail mix of Mexico's Dia De los Muertos imagery, a bit of Bosch and Brueghul and MC Escher's' architectural elements with a shot of tattoo culture, shaken and stirred, and served up in a souvenir tiki skull.
Holding the old masters in high regard, Pooch has a strong respect for painters of the Flemish age such as Bosch and Van Eyk, and modern artists such as Todd Schorr, Joe Coleman, Mark Ryden and Robert Williams, whom all seem to be keeping in the tradition of highly detailed symbolic works.

Roq la Rue is pleased to be one of the first galleries to showcase this extraordinary up and comer in the Pop Surrealism/Lowbrow scene.

Like Pooch, Joe Chiodo grew up obsessively watching horror movies and reading comic books, which would influence the path he would take as a young artist. Joe has since made a name for himself over the past 25 years as a first rate illustrator and colorist, having worked painting cover art for numerous paperback books to years later becoming a prolific and well respected colorist and storyteller for comic books, from Marvel to Glenn Danzig's "Verotik" comic publishing company (including painting some of the most luscious Vampirellas ever committed to paper.)

One of Joe's trademarks is his particular brand of "Pin Up" girl. Painted in soft creamy tones with an almost cinematic flair for lighting, Joe's paintings evoke the work of classic pin up artists George Petty and Vargas, with occasional nods to the elongated, big eyed influence of 60's kitsch icon Margaret Keane and the hallucinogenic color palette and nubile "good girl" tone of 60's men's magazines. His technical craftsmanship is complimented by his expressive brush stokes and sophisticated palette. His characters always retain a whimsical charm no matter how dark they may be or what kind of novel or bizarre troubles they may find themselves in.

The gallery is thrilled to host Joe's first gallery exhibit in which he is able to unshackle himself from the dictates of publishers and allowed to paint whatever he likes. He says:

"After working as an Illustrator for the last 25 years it was time to do the work that interests me. Gallery work always seemed so stuffy or work that I was just not interested in doing…but with the Lowbrow movement now happening I seemed to fit right in. The creation of these works has rekindled the creative flame that was almost extinguished by years of doing work for clients."