Tiny Monsters

As the art duo Hella More Funner, Adam Gray and Sam Fuchs make abstract pieces that reveal themselves at a distance, but it’s impossible not to get your nose right up in them. No, the brushstrokes aren't the story. It's the icons. The pair compose their work using a blizzard of digitally rendered tiny shapes, which thematically touch on subjects like drugs, capitalism, and a wide swath of pop culture. Usually the images are densely piled atop one another, such as in Octopus of a Thousand Babies, in which thousands of cartoon bodies are swept together to create an eight-tentacled beast, the Nickelodeon threat made real. Other times the icons float alone, with each skull, star, and needle clearly delineated. The duo often throws photos into the mix, especially on the hip-hop pieces — in one, Lil Wayne blows the history of rap out of his mic. Tonight, the S.F.-born artists throw a one-night-only show with an appropriately bold name, given the ever-changing reputation of digital art: “Undisputed Champions (Bored of the Rings).”
Sat., July 5, 6 p.m., 2008