happy hour

Happy Hour – two artists one show.

Literally, the term Happy Hour stands for a scheduled time of entertainment, of happiness - synonym of having a good time. As a phrase Happy Hour, is nothing new and one can find literal references of the term since Shakespeare. In fact, in The Merchant of Venice, Lorenzo says to Portia “Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you.” Of course, Shakespeare wasn’t wishing for discounted cocktails and a two-for-one deal.

It was only in the 1950s in the United States that the term Happy Hour became synonymous with pitchers and appetizers in a suit and tie. Happy Hour, besides being associated with discounted drinking and questionable karaoke choices after your 9 to 5, is actually about collective consumption.

Moving to the 21st century, Samantha Rosenwald and Mona Broschár are offering their viewers a brand-new Happy Hour - an enjoyable time of collective consumption that reveals gluttony and lust. While the artists’ techniques are completely different – Rosenwald neurotically using the unsophisticated medium of coloured pencils and Broschár mixing acrylic and oil achieving a plastic three dimensionality, yet somehow flat – the outcome of their work is uncannily similar. Both artists enchant the audience, unapologetically feeding viewers bold colours and sensual shapes, which, yet, at a closer look seem repulsive and discomforting. By concentrating intently on the works’, the viewer becomes aware of his/her own repulsing desires and the attractiveness and allure of the figures depicted can turn into something distressing and repellent.

Rosenwald through her dark humour, allegorical symbolism and meticulously pencil-coloured work displays the contemporary female, usually glossy and socially compliant. By examining herself and her own insecurities, Rosenwald creates cartoonish scenarios and playful patterns that reference our contemporary culture. Fashionable and on a quest to reach beauty standards, Rosenwald’s figures are grotesque and ready to be consumed. While Rosenwald’s work allures the viewers through a dark sense of humour and zany female figures, Broschár’s oeuvre is literally tempting and definitely mouth-watering. Candy-coloured plastic shapes forming sweet and dreamy forests of delicious desserts and magical flowers are enhancing the viewer’s lustful appetite. Seduced and captivated the audience can only desire to lick, taste and touch the perfectly curved compositions. The three dimensionality of the juicy and colourful environments is accompanied by a flatness that allows the rendered fruits, desserts, or sausage-like-shapes to stand out and become objects of desire.

You can now consume the decorative wallpaper female figure by Rosenwald and the luscious jungles of sweets by Broschár all in one show.

Happy Hour lasts until the 31st of October.

Text by Cecilia Monteleone

Samantha Rosenwald (b. in Los Angeles 1994) received her BA in Art History from Vassar College in 2016 and her MFA in Fine Art from California College of the Arts in 2018. Rosenwald is based in LA and works primarily in paint and coloured pencil. By threading together contemporary culture, visual pun, and the dogmas of art history, she creates absurd, personal, and darkly funny portraits which illustrate what it feels like to be alive. Rosenwald has shown with galleries such as Steve Turner (Los Angeles, CA), Eve Leibe Gallery (London, UK), Zevitas Marcus (Los Angeles, CA), Plan X Gallery (Milan, Italy), and Mostyn (Wales, UK), PUBLIC Gallery (London, UK) and has been featured in publications such as New American Paintings, Art Maze Magazine, and Art of Choice. Latest show with Annarumma Gallery ( Naples, Italy), JDJ (New York, USA), Ladies Room (Los Angeles, USA) Ballon Rouge Club, Galerist (Bruxelles, Belgium), London Art Fair, Eve Leibe Gallery (London, UK), Arsenal Contemporary, (New Y,ork, USA) The Hole, (New York, USA), Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, (London, UK).

Mona Broschár (b. in Bad Säckingen 1985) has a Master in painting and printmaking received at the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig, in 2014. She has a diploma in painting and printmaking from, Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig and a BA in fine Art, Camberwell College of Arts, London. She is a junior lecturer at the Academy of Visual Arts in the classes for painting and printmaking with Prof Schröter, Prof. Ruckhäberle, Prof. Ottersbach and Tilo Baumgärtel. Broschárhas shown her work in galleries, including Gallery Maurer, Frankfurt, (DE), Kunsthall, Darmstadt (DE), Gallery Space Studio Anscharpark, Kiel (DE),Künstler zu Gast in Hamburg (DE), e.V, Hamburg, (DE) A&O Gallery Lab, Leipzig (DE), SATT-ZENTRALE, Berlin (DE), Eve Leibe Gallery, London (UK), Tuesday to Friday, Valencia (ES), L21, Palma(ES), Galerie LJ, Paris (FR). Latest show Arco Art Fair with L21 Gallery, Mallorca (ES), GR Gallery New York, (US).