James Esber's Second Solo Exhibition at PPOW Gallery Distorts American Iconography

James Esber presents his second solo exhibition at PPOW Gallery in New York, transforming familiar American imagery through grotesque reinterpretations. The artist employs plasticine wall adhesions and canvas paintings to subvert nostalgic sources like Norman Rockwell illustrations and 1960s figurines. In works such as BOYS' CLUB, Rockwellian youth become conjoined quadruplets, with visible fingerprints marking the manipulated plasticine. Another plasticine piece, I WUV U, stretches beloved figurines into flayed, splayed forms resembling cartoon roadkill. On canvas, RABBIT TALK depicts a Tom Sawyer-like character whose body erupts with unexpected limbs, breasts, and genitalia. SELF PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A FOURSOME shows a boy writing at a desk, beneath which copulation imagery grows like fungi. Esber's compositions recall Peter Saul or Ivan Albright, inviting viewers to discover hidden details like morphing hair or twisting feet. The exhibition explores themes of repression, objectification, and self-loathing through exuberant, orgasmic multiplicity. All works are displayed at 476 Broome Street in New York through the gallery's exhibition period.