Function+Art in Chicago has a gallery show of Steve Hansen’s work on view until October 18, 2008.

Ceramist Steve Hansen’s artistic renaissance continues. Grounding his works in a trompe l’oeil version of Americana, his stoneware commentaries on the intersections of high and low art, commerce, and pop culture have struck a chord with critics and collectors alike.

This exhibition features works from his popular Gods of Commerce series, re-combinations of mythological icons which have been appropriated by marketers in their attempts to sell various products. Added to this, his new Propaganda series has widened the net - from products to ideology and the “permeable nature of truth” –continuing the theme but focusing on the selling of “truth” rather than products. While the connection to Pop Art in this new work remains strong, Hansen has revisited the consumerist vs. capitalist argument and enlarged it to bring into focus the irony of polemic truths living side-by-side on the same object.

Thanks to aj for bringing this to my attention.