Bubbles and Wings 

Yoko d’Holbachie painted "Bubbles and Wings" using acrylic on wood. It is an aesthetic related to Pop Surrealism that first emerged in Los Angeles during the 1990s. Her biomorphic figures combine elements of manga, cartoons, and psychedelia. The artist seems to take pleasure in combining the sweet and the sinister. What does it mean to create cute, highly commodifiable images, that also invoke hallucinatory states and the grotesque? D’Holbachie’s art asks us to consider the cultural status of illustration and commercial art. Where do they stand in relation to so-called high art? By looking at publications dedicated to Pop Surrealism, as well as the exhibition histories of galleries in Los Angeles, we can better understand this art’s uneasy relationship to the mainstream art world.