One of the greatest things about Anthony Pontius‘ series of primal/human hybrids is his willingness to take a slew of his own paintings — done in a variety of traditional media, slaved at for hours — and then take a pencil and graffiti all over it. I got a guilty bias towards guys like Anthony. He listens to old school thrash, seems to eschew the typical gallery scene, and has no respect for even his own art. Which is, by the way, f#&d up and amazing to look at…

While this may seem like plain masochism, it’s all part of the plan: his paintings are more of a series than anything else, lined up in order as a sort of re-creation of the Big Bang, only in his own mind. A series of primal and visceral fleshlings, a rogues gallery which chronicles the birth and expansion of the cosmos, and possibly its wretched end in heat death/big freeze.

Works like “The Mad Om’ seem to take a jab at the yoga/zen obsessiveness of West L.A. and nooks of Culver City in particular, while “The Great Rescue,” with its oversized panda-human, overlooks a set of painted ears for one done with a brush, the other a pencil. Such meddling may not sound like a big deal, and it really isn’t– but it’s what makes Pontius’ work easier to relate to and likeable, perhaps for the Generation Y-ers of today.

A band of wall-scrawlers and overpass-taggers, today’s generation of artist has as much regard for proper media as Anthony does his own drawings. I got a chance to ask him a couple quick questions when I stopped by Thinkspace Gallery last week.

This seems like an unusual exhibit to label ‘The Caped Cobra and His Merry band of Riders’?

Pontius: From the get-go Balancing harmony, showing the connection to animal roots.

I constantly draw. If they happen to evolve into a painting then that’s cool. You never know what’s gonna happen.

Pontius: We try to separate from the primal side but we forget who we are. This is a sort of friendly reminder.

This sounds like Hall & Oates or something. What if you could pick your own gallery soundtrack?

Pontius: I’d probably have Pentagram’s “Relentless”  playing on an endless loop.

He walks me over to a painting with a green alien-like face. It’s a beautiful combination of  oils and acrylics, and over top of it he’s scrawled with a pencil the words ‘hug it out.’ The re-birth of the Universe, beginning with an explosion of gesso and water and paint and assorted chemicals…

Words by Jeff Nau, Photos by Sidney Bensimon