Jealous is proud to present The Odyssey, a show of paintings and prints by New York-based artist Scooter LaForge. This is his debut show in London, curated by legendary DJ Seth Troxler.

Fairytales gone wrong–inhabited by sexy boys and subversive fairies masquerading and transforming into cyclopes, nymphs, magical creatures, angels, and monsters—have always been a natural terrain for Scooter’s paintings.

His 2015 exhibition at Howl! Happening gallery in NYC, How to Create a Monsterpiece, centered around an adaptation of Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp; the doctor’s students morphed into clowns and a blue bear, the corpse now a jester. The show was honored by Forbes on their 10 best list of the year—yet Scooter is able to inspire the popular imagination beyond the constraints of the art world.

He travels fluidly between being a painter’s painter and the mores of fashion. His canvas is as shapeshiaing as his allegories, be it properly mounted on stretcher bars, body painting, painting on clothing, or directly on walls.

In the Jealous show, Scooter’s painterly adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey merges the existent and the imaginary, just as the laber combined history with ancient Greek mythology.

Polyphemus; Who’s No Body? 2018, the first print Scooter created at Jealous Print Studio, originated from an actual body painting of the face and clothing of his friend and fellow artist Joel Handorff, transforming Joel into an imaginary cyclops. Odysseus’ cunning claim to Polyphemus of being ‘nobody’ becomes an allegory of the artist’s rouse.

Another work in the show, The Lotus Eaters 2018, is Scooter’s adaptation of the tragic downfall of Odysseus’ men, who were intoxicated by the fruit of the lotus flower. For Scooter, the tale relates to drug and alcohol issues in today’s society. He paints a contemporary-looking sLll life of a vase in which wilting cut flowers with human faces—perhaps carnivorous—allude to the inebriated men.

In addition to paintings, prints, and wall murals, the show is accompanied by a signed edition of 20 catalogs—each one a hybrid of hand painted t-shirt and book.