The concept behind the local artist group known as Three Bad Sheep—collaboration without rules, boundaries and unified thought—can be baffling. For four years these guys, Alexander Huerta, Alexander Sky and Eddie Canumay, have been passing canvases along to one another, (but not necessarily in the company of one other) for each to add to, alter, interpret and/or counter.
Like an urban wall covered in spray paint and wheat paste, the layers of voices have moments of harmony, if not a really great game of call and response—even more so given the democratic process the trio employs and the fact that their continued collaborations make their individual styles more indiscernible. “At first we brought our own techniques to the table, and we now borrow from each other,” Huerta says.
In Just Make Me Pretty at TastySpace gallery, Three Bad Sheep delivers all sorts of musings, symbolism and craziness loosely dealing with ideas of beauty—a theme that evolved between the three with no early discussion. The collages of found objects, photos and text, combined with paintings and drawings, results in wickedly sci-fi style street art and unexpected intersections of pop art, Dr. Seuss and pages of dusty science books hauled from the attic.
There’s a pretty face here, a blobby creature there and the ridiculous expectations of beauty—manipulated and thrown out in Alice-In-Wonderlandian tones—dominating the already busy scenarios. It’s an exhibit that wouldn’t be good fun for minimalists, but great for fans of street art who are into the rough melding of fantasy and reality with a little of everything thrown in. The collection of works, akin to hallucinogenic dreamscapes, shows our close proximity to the otherworld.
Just Make Me Pretty Through May 14, call for hours. TastySpace Gallery, Emergency Arts, 617-513-7336.