Making Light of the Darkness presents paintings that balance heartbreak with humor, cuteness with melancholy, and sincerity with sarcasm. Luke Chueh uses signature totems of bears and rabbits to create emotional scenes that feel personal yet widely relatable. The exhibition marks a tonal shift toward softer, more introspective work while preserving subtle playfulness and emotional weight. In Everything's Fine a bear sits serenely while engulfed in flames, an analog painting evoking meme-era contradictions. Chueh situates his practice within Pop Surrealist and low-brow lineages, citing visual links to Yoshitomo Nara, Takashi Murakami, and Mark Ryden. His work spans paintings, toys, and collaborations exhibited and collected internationally.
Harman Projects is pleased to present Making Light of the Darkness, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Luke Chueh. For his debut exhibition with the gallery, Chueh delves into the delicate art of balancing contradictions: heartbreak softened by humor, cuteness overcome with melancholy, and sincerity intertwined with sarcasm. Through his latest series of paintings, Chueh explores the darkness enveloping both his personal and our greater cultural lives. Not to extinguish it, but to render it bearable, luminous.
Known for his signature totems of bears and rabbits, Chueh draws viewers into an emotional space that is at once deeply personal but yet widely relatable. The works in Making Light of the Darkness reflect a shift in tone for the artist: softer, more introspective, while still subtly playful and self aware. However once the curtain of cuteness is pulled back, the works retain the emotional weight that has long defined his practice.
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