How does the simple activity of getting a haircut become so charged with memories that are entangled with identity, personality and the assertion of one’s own agency? Philadelphia-born aritst Devan Shimoyama piques the spectator’s curiosity and invites them to reconcile the beauty and freedom of his paintings against the regimented and inflexible format of the barbersho in his first solo museum show, “Cry, Baby,” curated by Jessica Beck, The Milton Fine Curator of Art at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. The show charts a connection between Shimoyama’s work and Warhol’s 1974 “Ladies and Gentlemen” series by placing one of his bejeweled works in conversation with the pop icon’s regal screen prints.
