Hedgehog Boy, A Visual Aid Exhibition

Bay area artist Rene Capone doesn't accept status quo. He is an advocate of the belief that art is a lie which tells the truth and he entices the senses with the bold and theatrical. Capone creates mixed media paintings of an alternative and allegorical reality, a mystical world where boys talk to unicorns and wear animals pelts on their heads. His emotional and graphic styles are inflected by Yaoi, boy on boy sex comics from Japan, and his fantastical imagery spurs mythological metaphors of harnessing the knowledge of the past to tackle the future. Capone transgresses the boundaries of traditional Japanese comics through reappropriation and wit, co-writing a modern legend inspired by the series of paintings. 'The Legend of Hedgehog Boy,' soon to be published, integrates the visual and literary worlds with dynamic results. Each canvas is filled with powerful compositions, favoring homoerotic themes, accented by an expressionistic line and cool color palette which creates an ethereal backdrop to this bizarre gay love story of sexuality, twisted punishment, revenge and personal discovery.