Gary Baseman: I Melt in Your Presence
Modernism Gallery
San Francisco, CA
15 March – 5 May

by Tonya Warner

Gary Baseman is well known as an illustrator and cartoonist – most notably as the creator of Disney’s “Teacher’s Pet” TV show and movie, and for illustrating the board game Cranium, as well as a slew of various commercial illustration commissions. As a painter, he is known for creating other-worldly universes inhabited by strange large-eyed characters whose superficial sweetness seems to be thin disguises for more maniacal natures. With his latest show, “I Melt in Your Presence,” there is even less pretense – all of the canvases exhibit a garden of Edenesque “utopia” where naked women frolic amongst various little animals. Only, these women have nipples and genitalia, and by frolic I mean hang around in sexual poses and positions. There is a lot that is pretty tongue-in-cheek here, with titles such as “The Goddesses of Creamy Wonderment,” (although one starts to wonder if Baseman has gotten laid in awhile). Despite, or even because of their cartoonness, these images come across as somewhat disturbing – perhaps it has something to do with the abundance of fluids spewing from orifices or just the fact that cuteness in Baseman’s paintings usually comes across as something to be suspicious of.

The most interesting pieces are the Nude Studies, where Baseman has taken vintage porn photos (that are quite PG by today’s standards) and has added his little characters from the other pieces in the show. Rather than directly interacting, the women in these photos seem annoyed by these creatures crawling over and around their bodies – Baseman’s figures seem more like pesky gremlins than cute bearers of free love and pleasure. The way that the characters are placed – always out of the sightline of the model – give the impression that these women are trying as hard as they can to ignore them, yet looking disgusted all the while. It definitely puts an interesting spin on these vintage images, and the conditions under which they were made – for once we notice their faces more than their bodies. Whether the creator of an Emmy Award winning children’s cartoon meant this show as a comment on the contemporary display of sexuality and lust in society remains to be seen, however, the inclusion of actual pornography serves as a breath of fresh air vis-à-vis Baseman’s off-kilter and often crowded (note: he cites Hieronymus Bosch as a source of inspiration) and repetitive canvases.

http://garybaseman.com/
http://www.modernisminc.com/exhibitions/current/Gary_BASEMAN_07/#

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