Canyon Castator ( 1989, Houston, TX) makes large-scale paintings that satirically address our social reality, bringing together an exuberant blend of figures culled from the internet, modern media, politics and personal experience. Castator’s world is hyperbolic, saturated with dissonant characters, knowing symbolism and distorted narratives. His distinctive aesthetic is not tied down to one language but fuses digital and traditional mediums in a cacophony of psychedelic vibrance.
Castator’s work explores our relationship with the digital, reflecting the unfiltered cornucopia of images and content found online. His collages are a blend of dissonant characters onto the canvas: iconic cartoons feature alongside political figures and memes in a chaotic narrative that recalls the semi-animated film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Castator accentuates this feeling of incongruity by merging digital and traditional painting techniques on the canvas. He executes preparatory drawings on the iPad, where he articulates the composition, meticulously arranging the figures. Some of the characters are then printed on the canvas with a distinctive claymation aesthetic; while others are realistically rendered in oil.
It is this blend of fine art skills and disturbing cartoon-like figures that makes Castator’s work so unique: “When it’s successful, the two mediums are married together and work harmoniously. When it’s really successful the two mediums are completely at odds with one another and create this kind of chaotic visual conflict,” the artists explains (in conversation with Rom Levy, Street Art News, April 2020).
Canyon Castator (b. 1989, Houston, TX) lives and works in Los Angeles.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Rom, Dubai (forthcoming)
2022
CAN Ibiza, Stems Gallery, Ibiza
2021
Hero Complex, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm
2019
Infidel, Postmasters Gallery, New York
2018
No Politics at the Dinner Table, Carl Kostyál, London
Pissing Match, Postmasters Gallery, New York
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
Plan X, Milan (forthcoming)
Rift, Los Angeles (forthcoming)
2023
Tin Star tall tales, Volery Gallery, Dubai
DREAMLAND, Delgado Projects, Los Angeles
PRIMA NOVA II, Berlin/Hamburg
2021
Felix Art Fair, M+B, Los Angeles
2020
Riders of the Red Horse, The Pit, Los Angeles
We Used to Gather, Library Street Collective, Detroit
Drawn Together, The Unit, London
Art021, Carl Kostyál, Shanghai
Felix Art Fair, Carl Kostyál, Los Angeles
2019
Malmö Sessions, Carl Kostyál, Malmö, Sweden
2017
CARL KOSTYÁL
CARL KOSTYÁL · 12A SAVILE ROW, LONDON W1S 3PQ · WWW.KOSTYAL.COM
CON-Figuration, Postmasters Gallery, New York
2016
Emulator, Gallery 151, New York
Go Figure!, Louis B James, New York
2015
Colors, Louis B James, New York
Touched For The Very First Time, Lane Meyer Projects, Denver, Colorado
RBMA, Project Space, New York
2014
Absent Friends, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York
In Rooms, Open Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Thanks For Coming, Tribeca Grand Hotel, New York
Rundgang, Kunstakademie, Dusseldorf, Germany