Chad Eaton paints Adorable Abes–honestly

“QUICKLY” by CHAD EATON

A lot of adorable art rolls through Long Beach—cute critters and anthropomorphic couches hanging in paintings at Alpha Cult, miniature mammoth monsters hibernating at DDR Projects—but none has caught my eye (and remained there, tucked snugly beneath an eyelid) quite like Timber!/Chad Eaton’s Abraham Lincoln-esque subjects—tall, thin men adorned with tall, thin top hats and black flowing beard/scarves. Each piece in his current show (on view at the Broadlind Cafe through the end of December with some super-enjoyable cardboard and foam board art from Japanland/Jason Jones and haunting, fantastic ink on cotton works by Metasaurus, a.k.a. Sarah and Trevor Girard) is a joy to look at, from the wonderfully Peter Max-like Beards, Barrels, and Balloons and Collectors to his series of five Abe-men carved from skateboard decks, each with a different name: Herbert, Henry, Harry, Harold, and Hank.

Painted on a door (with a stylish frame added), Beards is by far the most impressive: On the left, a giant Abe looms in the foreground, with two smaller Abes positioned on the brim of his top hat; there, a mini Abe stands on a ladder and applies a touch-up paint job to giant Abe’s hat while another mini sits reading a paper. On the right is a rolling sea of Abe-men close and far, bobbing in wooden barrels while a whale (with a teensy umbrella-wielding Abe hitching a ride) slinks by in the background. And then there’s the sky, a soft tan standing in contrast to the blacks, browns and greys found everywhere else in the painting, filled with more Abes (one shooting a gun, one with a telescope, two with their beards connected—a common theme in Eaton’s pieces) riding in pink hot air balloons. Lastly, for good measure, there’s a few more Magritte-umbrella Abes floating in the sky. It’s spectacular. Oh and there is this final detail: All of Eaton’s Abes are pictured with their eyes closed, which is perfect, because really—who wants the eyes of Abraham Lincoln following them around? Save that for the creepy White House; with their eyes shut, these guys are truly adorable.

CHAD EATON, AKA TIMBER! WITH WORKS BY JAPANLAND AND METASAURUS ON VIEW AT BROADLIND CAFE 438 E BROADWAY LONG BEACH 90802 562.495.6222 CALL FOR HOURS THRU DEC 31

Tags: abe lincoln, adorable, art, beards, broadlind cafe, Long Beach