Stitch & Cut 2010

Luke Chueh made *Stitch & Cut*, and it feels like a modern day morality painting, though I can't be sure of the exact date. The bear is rendered so smoothly, it's a very different texture from the violent imagery. The bright red is pretty confronting, and creates a big contrast with the white, which gives the bear a kind of innocence, in my eyes. There are some details, like the curve of the bear's paw, which is holding the knife. I think Chueh wants us to feel a little sorry for the bear while also confronting its actions. Chueh's work reminds me a little of Yoshitomo Nara, who also works with cute characters to explore dark and complex emotional states. In both artists' work, there is a sense that things are not always as they seem, and that there is always more than one way to see things.