September 22, 2023 (Los Angeles, CA) — Over the Influence is thrilled to announce Monsters in You, an exhibition of new work from the artist known as Gongkan. This will mark Gongkan’s second solo exhibition with Over the Influence Los Angeles, following Tip of the Iceberg in 2021. The show will feature a new series of paintings in Gongkan’s signature pop surrealist style that tackle the idea of “monsters” that exist within all of us, and the ways in which we might learn to coexist with them. Monsters in You will open Saturday, September 23rd with a reception from 5pm to 9pm and will remain on view through November 19, 2023. Monsters in You marks a continuation of Gongkan’s exploration into themes of transformation, freedom, and self discovery. Black portals painted in the picture plane were previously used to depict people emerging and disappearing as if traveling through space or time. In this exhibition, Gongkan trades black portals for mirrors, the viewers’ reflections transposed into the images of monsters — strange and imagined creatures that range from eerie oddlings to ethereal beings to fuzzy pet-like beasts. By refusing to depict these creatures as either wholly angelic or wholly demonic, Gongkan adds a level of dimensionality that allows the viewer to decide if the monsters are friend or foe. Gongkan’s work resides in the lineage of Pop Surrealism, a movement that started in the 1970s, with artists such as Mark Ryden, Anthony Ausgang, and Kenny Scharf. In Monsters in You, Gongkan’s bright, vibrant renderings make the monsters less frightening and more approachable—maybe even friendly. For example, one painting features a green, flower-pot-like creature with five legs and three faces surrounded by pink petals and leaves. Another shows a person lying on top of a large, pink, bean-shaped creature with dog-like features; they’re connected via antenna and embracing. Each distinctive and thought-provoking “monster” represents a different inner demon within each human being, and the healing and fearlessness that comes from facing them. These creatures give physical shape to the inner states of the mind, our personalities, and the deep aspects of ourselves we sometimes refuse to acknowledge. Throughout the works, the carefully blended scenery creates a sense of minimalism and simplicity that allows the intricate texture of the characters to stand out in sharp detail. While Gongkan’s paintings are bright and animated, they also have a deeply human sensibility that creates greater emotional and psychological depth, ultimately imparting them with an ambiance that is both strange and transcendent. For the first time, Gongkan has incorporated mirrors into his work, in which viewers may see their own face as they contemplate the art, and perhaps by extension examine their own monsters within. ____ Over the Influence is thrilled to announce Camouflages & Devils Tower, an exhibition of new works from the internationally renowned French artist known as Invader. The exhibition will feature a new body of work including the artist’s iconic mosaics alongside a presentation of Rubik’s Cube works. Marking Invader's first solo show in Los Angeles since 2021, Camouflages & Devils Tower will open on September 23, 2023, and remain on view through November 19, 2023. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, September 23rd, from 5-9 PM. Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential contemporary artists of his generation, Invader has consistently challenged convention. Bursting into the scene in 1998, he quickly gained popularity worldwide for his ‘invasions’ that use guerilla tactics to place pixelated video game characters and pop culture archetypes composed of square ceramic tiles in highly visible yet just-out-of-reach spaces. Invader often uses ceramic tiles as physical representations of computer pixels, bringing a tangible materiality to the virtual form. Each of Invader’s idiosyncratic mosaics is one of many fragments that make up a sprawling, monumental, long-term, and global installation. Conceptualized to exist beyond the gallery, Invader’s work sparks a dialogue within the city and its inhabitants. In 2005, the artist started a new project called “Rubikcubism” which uses Rubik’s Cubes to compose astonishing pieces of art; he explains, “What interests me in Rubikcubism is the possibility of revisiting an iconic and ludo-scientific object and turning it into an artistic medium.” Camouflages & Devils Tower highlights Invader’s studio practice while celebrating his monumental impact on the history of art. “For this exhibition, I created a series of mosaics on the theme of camouflage because it is a fundamental principle in my urban practice for which I always try to blend into the environment.” The exhibition will include Invader’s newest series of mosaics, in which he hides his iconic space invaders figure amongst camouflage patterns. This idea of concealment versus visibility has long been implicit in his work, which often takes the form of urban interventions that both stand out from and blend into their environments. Examined through the lens of art history and pop culture, and drawing references from fashion, design, and art giants including Picasso and Warhol, Invader continues a tradition of concealing imagery within artwork — in other words, within plain sight. This latest body of work deepens his mosaic practice, embracing a variety of shapes, colors, and scales. Invader classifies this new collection of mosaics as Pixel-Pieces, his term for unique works created on wooden panels (in contrast to his Aliases, which are doubles of urban installations that he has previously installed on city walls). “Just like the protagonists of Steven Spielberg's film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I was attracted and fascinated by Devils Tower, the mountain where the mothership from space lands. I, as well, obsessively represented it from different angles, in different lights and in different formats using my Rubikcubist technique.” Concomitant with the camouflage mosaic series, Invader presents a new series of rubikcubist works inspired by Devils Tower, a national monument in northeastern Wyoming best known for its distinct butte shape. A recognizable landmark in the spectacular landscape of the American West, Devils Tower also plays a central role as the landing area for an alien mothership in Steven Spielberg’s movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The monument becomes an obsessive fixation for one of the film’s protagonists, who has visions about its iconic silhouette, and finds himself unconsciously forming the shape in his daily life, such as in his mashed potatoes at dinner. Inspired by this stylistic obsession, Invader represents the monument from varying angles and under different lighting conditions by manipulating and assembling thousands of Rubik’s cubes into Devils Tower’s images. This work is a continuation of his lifelong fascination with examining the relationship between the digital and physical worlds, and pushing the boundaries between pop culture and fine art. Camouflages & Devils Tower marks an exciting evolution of a 25-year-long artistic practice that shows no signs of slowing down. For more information, visit www.overtheinfluence.com