BMST Space, 5 Stoke Newington Road, Dalston, N16 8BH
My friend Joe Sangre
currently has an exhibition in Dalston. Okay, it’s bound to be gone by the time
you read this, but you should browse his website at www.joesangre.com.
Joe Sangre’s
exhibition of art offers appealingly nostalgic imagery for mostly parodic
effect, most evidently harking back to the cartoons and imagery of Max
Fleischer and early Twentieth Century branding. For example, “Man vs Cactus” seems
to propose machismo in a bottle, utilising the ridiculousness of the idea that
drinking makes maleness. Or the repetition of “The Quitter” ~ a centrepiece for
the exhibition as the kid chases the balloon all around the place ~ suggests always reaching for that thing
that is just … out of … reach… but which you still pursue. Or then there’s the paranoia
of “Kittie Got Dead”, where the blindfolded and sweating persecuted kitty shows
some defiance in the pouting of the (presumably) last cigarette. 
There’s a pleasing straightforwardness
and spare aesthetic to these drawings whose simplicity draws you in directly. Joe
Sangre doesn’t want to clutter the imagery or the meaning up with an abundance
of detail, but this art harbours deeper connotation, creepiness and a black
humour, should you want it.
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