Gigi Salij describes her latest body of work, “The Sideshow” as a “side-trip.” When her print shop was unavailable during COVID lockdowns, she turned to watercolors to reimagine her typical pop-art style. The medium gives a cohesive wash to the varying pieces, which feature minimal backgrounds, evoking iconography and advertisements. Warmth from the watercolor takes some edge off, like a wink after a cutting joke or a curse word in a cross stitch.

Debate Me, You Coward. Watercolor, 30 x 22.

A certain nostalgia exists in the familiar images, but the historic figures and cultural icons find themselves embedded in new, playful contexts. Salij draws from “both pop culture and high culture,” while knocking the two from their respective pedestals. At the same time, she knocks the viewer off guard with tongue-in-cheek humor that could easily spur a dive into philosophical discourse.

Che. Rry Pie. Watercolor. 19 x 25. — Che. Rry Pie. Watercolor. 19 x 25.

Salij developed each piece of artwork with a “word, word-play, phrase, passage or quote” swimming around in her head. The accompanying phrases or titles, as they come, leave the works on the comic--sardonic spectrum, even venturing into the politically blasphemous, with pieces like “Che. Rry Pie.” “The Sideshow” artfully plays with the sacredness we often assign to politics, art, and the accoutrement of high society. In subject matter and in arrangement, Salij makes her own rules, as variations on a Beethoven portrait assume their natural home alongside a crushed Heineken can.

Good Morning, Comrade. Watercolor with graphite, 30 x 22.

“The Sideshow” by Gigi Salij will be on display in the Harrison Center’s Annex Gallery for the month of July. The exhibit can be viewed in-person by appointment and in our online gallery, where all pieces are available for purchase.