As a noted cute-surrealist painter, Luke Chueh’s own contrary impulses are personified in his work as cuddly animals that evoke comforting memories of childhood. Yet, these sweet-faced bears, bunnies, and monkeys are brutally forced into suffering the effects of the proverbial human condition. Murphy’s Law rules the world where Chueh’s wry, introspective characters live. Consequently, sex, murder, mutilation, and cause for vegetarianism abound. However macabre, we find ourselves in the subtle irony of his paintings among the simple color fields and textured line. Many times his blood red backgrounds serve as warnings that all is not what it seems or alter- natively as an emotional guide to the levels of our subconscious purgatory. “Self-ish” marks the last two “You Are What You Eat” paintings in Chueh’s 10-year, career-defining Bear series, as well as introduces new experimental works on paper.
“My work is an illustrative exploration of visual and narrative contrasts,” explains Chueh. “Drawing inspiration from comics and cartoons, my “cute/innocent” characters are juxtaposed into a world filled with addiction, ill- ness, misery, and loss.”
Born in Philadelphia, but raised in Fresno, Luke Chueh (pronounced CHU) studied graphic design at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obipso where he earned a BS in Art & Design (Graphic Design concentra- tion). He was employed by the Ernie Ball Company, working in-house as designer/illustrator where he created several award winning designs, featured in Communication Arts and Print Magazine. Meanwhile, he also cre- ated, produced, wrote, designed, edited and published “E.X.P.”, a ‘zine dedicated to the “Intelligent Dance Music (IDM)” genre.
In 2003, Chueh moved to Los Angeles to further pursue a career in design. However, a lack of employment op- portunities left him resorting to painting as a way to keep busy (a hobby he picked up while attending Cal Poly). He got his start when the Los Angeles underground art show, Cannibal Flower, invited him to show at their monthly events. Since then Chueh has quickly worked his way up the ranks of the LA art scene, establishing himself as an artist not to be ignored. Employing minimal color schemes, simple animal characters, and a seem- ingly endless list of ill-fated situations, Chueh stylistically balances cute with brute, walking the fine line between comedy and tragedy. Chueh’s work has been featured in galleries around the world, and some of his paintings have also been reinterpreted into vinyl toys.
