Chris Musina: Paradise

Sometimes it seems like artist statements are supposed to take hundreds of words to say not much of anything, but apparently, nobody told UNC art MFA program alumnus Chris Musina, who gets it done in five words: “I’m tired of the Anthropocene.” Paradise, his new exhibit at Oneoneone, bears this out. The animal-loving artist has started including humans in his new oil paintings, but with their backs turned to us, making them anonymous billboards for the vivid swordfish swimming on their T-shirts or the dolphins leaping in their tattoos. Other times, people stay out of the frame entirely—but is “Alligator in a Swimming Pool” implying a sort of funny Florida story about a ‘gator getting into a pool, or a post-apocalyptic vision of a world where the animals have taken over? Well, which do you want it to be? Musina’s exhibit runs through May after this opening reception.