Breaking out of the incestuous downtown art scene, our man ERIK FOSS has taken his East Village art hotspot FUSE GALLERY on a decidedly unexpected turn with a show of new work by the unknown Ecuadorian artist JEAN-PIERRE ARBOLEDA. Working mainly in ballpoint pen and watercolor on paper, Arboleda's technique and rendering ability is formidable lending incredible detail to his self-described scenes of animalia en regalia. Says the artist of his intricate tableauxs: "Devoid of rational thought, these brutes frantically and viciously struggle for sex and territory. Smaller animals harness larger ones, using them as vehicles to conquer one another." In stark graphic contrast is the gallery's downstairs VIP party room now playing host to an installation by renegade LA-based billboard hijacker, SKULLPHONE. HAVE A LOOK:
JP is a gallery gangsta...

JP's funky rubber sculptures make for good superballs in a pinch...

JP's groupies go to the mat for him...

THE SKULLPHONE ROOM:

Tim Biskup & Naomi Harris just back from spring break 2008...

Mr Foss hits a homerun...

Carlo McCromick plots his next move...

The heating unit...