Timber!

In the world of underground art, it seems that the most popular visual pioneers really know how to corner the market. Some do it with recycled trash and hot glue, others go for the gross factor with taboo sexuality that no one else would dare replicate. Chad Eaton uses beards. And though he’s not “avant garde” enough to trim fibers of face fuzz and stick them on canvas, Eaton’s storybook paintings of lumberjacks and Abe Lincoln look-a-likes strike a curious chord with the young and cultured. This exhibition, titled “Timber!”, alludes to a moniker adopted by Eaton (one can only guess it has something to do with his ability to rock his own Grizzly Adams-esque bristles). This prolific young artist kicks off his second showing at Hibbleton Gallery since the space’s opening in 2008. His work—mounted on everything from lush golden frames to skateboard decks—offers a showing of endless creativity when it comes to hairy declarations of manhood...above the neck, of course.
Fri., April 3, 7 p.m., 2009