"Javier Botella"

There is a refreshing levity to Botella's pieces. They are humorous and intelligent surreal cartoons that seem like something out of a Lewis Carroll book. Especially since many of Botella's paintings feature clocks, they will undoubtedly be compared to the paintings of Dali. Time, often viewed as menacing, or at least perturbing in art, plays an atypical role with Botella's work. The clocks of Botella maintain their circularity, and if distorted, are only minimally so. While time is undeniably present, Botella sees nothing confronting about it, and presents his clocks in a facetious manner, decorating them for amusement, like drawing a mustache on a portrait of a venerable figure.

Botella's "Feelings" paintings are unruly and full of coherent images placed in an incoherent way. These worlds seem replete with pranksters. The paintings depict the irrational, or perhaps mysterious, origins of emotions, despite their apparent justifiability. There is a comedic quality to the way Botella sees emotion, but it is without malice or arrogance. He wants the viewer to recognize that the majority of what one may go though in life could perhaps be viewed with humor rather than vexation or anxiety.

-Eugene Hwang