....	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
	Secret Project Robot is pleased to present Our Dark Heroes, curated by Tracy Candido. Our Dark Heroes presents contemporary art that references the mocking wit of the comic grotesque genre most popular in the first forty years of 20th century Germany. The genre first emerged onto Germany’s cultural scene at the end of the 1800’s through the work of Arnold Bocklin. His extraordinary and bizarre paintings manifested a coalescence of fantastic animal forms and human figures. Comic grotesque was carried forward with works like Max Klinger’s Pissing Death, a romantic river landscape with a skeleton lewdly pissing into the serene water, the masked creatures of Paul Klee, Otto Dix’s portrayals of the working class, and the hilariously strange performances of Karl Valentin. Cabaret and vaudeville played a strong role during this time, and both drew from and influenced this genre.
	Comic grotesque is often defined as a confrontation between the artist and viewer, in which an artwork proposes a familiar and trusted social or cultural idea and then suddenly exposes the viewer’s expectations of certainty. By twisting the recognizable into something strange and disturbing, we approach an assured critical aggression, whether underlying or apparent, employed to disarm and unnerve and then create a sense of liberating self awareness. Bewilderment, disorientation, and an unresolved tension may also be present. Our Dark Heroes proposes the macabre with a bold tongue in cheek stance that is indeed a relevant response to our stumbling society.
	Whether their work be silly, crass, or grim, Our Dark Heroes presents nine contemporary artists that encourage the sublime and the peculiar. Jodi Brown’s paintings are highly critical interpretations of key characters in our visual culture which seem to writhe before our eyes, her subjects seemingly in agony while ironically participating in jovial activities. Paul Brainard’s macabre graphite drawings crawl all over each other, overlapping and grinning ghoulishly at one another. Not only do they beckon the viewer to pursue its intricate map of musings, but they also point their proverbial finger and tsk in disapproval at our society’s indulgences. Dana Carlson’s beautifully rendered vase paintings whir together animal, mineral, and vegetable to offer a splendiferous cascade of odd imagery.
	Kate Clark’s taxidermy sculptures fuse mankind and beast and form a critical interpretation of our gestures, moods and expressions through a different set of eyes. Rapturous yet alarming, Clark’s mounts confuse and disarm us- do we move in closer or take flight for fear of their incitement? Ryan Kitson uses his well-versed language of casting, mold making, and other industrial methods of object making to create his papasan sculpture. At first glance this form is a classic snapshot of juvenile behavior. but upon closer inspection we find Kitson has created a self-aware homage to the mundane, finding humor in the apathy and transparency of misguided America.
	Rachel Frank’s meticulously crafted horse sculptures are hauntingly alluring. Frank hand sews, stuffs, and beads each piece, concluding with affectionate brush strokes of paint that sometimes look like a coat of hair, sometimes look like another strange substance- oil? rain? droplets of grief? Her narrative, cell-like drawings also depict the horses, either consuming or being consumed by their own insides. Philip Knoll is by far the funny man of this exhibition, obsessively and pervertedly drawing an unfortunate series of events, noting the sad but true notions of our own lives.
	Scott Roberts deals with the ontological peculiarity of the phantoms of advertising, entertainment, and pop culture. Roberts’ work provides an example of the malleability of reality, playing on the viewers’ own need to connect the dots. Roberts increases the viewer’s level of confusion and anxiety, while demonstrating ideas of frustrated communication. Barnaby Whitfield’s pastel drawings comment unabashedly and unapologeticly on the bourgeois of our society, showing the nasty underbelly of the posh, magnifying a madness that may occur with acquired wealth. Whitfield creates transcendental, acid colored moments that exist somewhere between Disneyland and Charles Manson.
	Please join us for the opening art event, an exciting interdisciplinary happening, for Our Dark Heroes on Saturday February 3rd from 6-10pm at Secret Project Robot. A warm reception for the artists will occur from 6-8pm. A live music performance by Frances will take place at 8pm, and “The Displaced Eye,” a film screening curated by Lisa Kletjian and featuring the work of Jeremiah Zagar & Michael Reich, Jeremy Bronson, Moira Tierney, Tim Reardon, Christen Smith, Jonathan Schwartz, and Elena Wen will be screened at 9pm (ca. 35 mins).
	Other cultural events coinciding with Our Dark Heroes include a special music performance by Edison Woods on Saturday February 17th at 7:30pm, a vaudeville performance salon on Saturday February 24th at 8:00pm, with performances by Evan O'Television, Emmy Bean, Carole D' Agostino, PUPPETKABOB, and Franki Cordero of Dramaton Theater with Ken Berman and Sarah Frechette, and lastly a closing party and final screening of "The Displaced Eye," curated by Lisa Kletjian, on Saturday March 3rd at 8:00pm.