“Strangers” at Alpha Cult is a warlike show by peaceful street artists

“UNTITLED 1″ by 2CENTS

“Strangers,” the latest offering of street art, graffiti styles, and Powerpuff Girls splinter cells at Alpha Cult, is a series of mixed media—mostly paintings—as oblique as its name. Nor is there explanatory text about any artists here (who have names like Blinky or 2cents or olive47). But that’s fine; it makes you concentrate harder on the art—which needs some concentrating—and it makes you think of . . . Iraq. And maybe buying some toys. And this is a toy store. A little too convenient.

Begin with the Iraq, because the warlike pieces are numerous and some of the best. 2cents delivers an untitled series of impossibly high-gloss animal silhouettes painted on 12-inch and 7-inch vinyl record sleeves—re-imagining various fauna as lean, mean killing machines (except, one assumes, the pig). A shark gets a tank gun mounted to its dorsal fin—very cleverly, looks natural. A goose in flight drops a load of bombs from a bay where its feet would normally be curled. A blowfish has a large fuse extending from its back—giving new meaning to the term “improvised explosive device.” Spiny. And the pig gets helicopter blades, so it can fly around. It’s actually quite sobering: when pigs fly, can the end times be far off? Maybe not.

There’s much else to see here, from olive47’s primary-colored vaginas that look scarily like art you’d hang in a child’s room; to Project Rabbit’s Life in Hell-esque rabbit series: grown-up, jaded, ugly rabbits as cowboys, Indians, even cholos (sample tattoo: “Conejo Loco”). Blinky, the curator, delivers an excellent series of cuddly monsters swept straight from The Powerpuff Girls editing room floor.

But (possibly because, as with so much street art, there’s a sense of apocalypse in the throwing together of things that never went together before) you wind up standing before Smear’s series of Keith Haring-like canvases. And Thursday; Meatloaf Night, a painting/collage of what looks like a soldier’s silhouette next to a varnished-in cover of Leon Uris’s Battle Cry that warns it’s the best-selling paperback ever. There’s also what looks an infantryman’s list of things to do when Stateside, with some tasks checked off: NRG; credit report; weed clinic; Trader Joe’s.

Isn’t that what they’re fighting for: that residents of Belmont Shore, Los Altos and Bixby Knolls can enjoy the Fearless Flyer without fear?

STRANGERS ALPHA CULT | 408 E FIRST ST | SUITE 102 | LONG BEACH 90802 | 562.432.9144 | OPEN MON-SAT 11 AM-7 PM; SUN 11 AM-5 PM | THROUGH AUG 8 | FREE

Tags: alpha cult, art, Long Beach, sharks with lasers, strangers