Jeff Zimmermann is known for his ice cream truck paintings, portrait-like renderings with the branding removed but still so recognizable they call to mind the jingles those trucks used to play. These paintings always have been irresistible to me, both funky and iconic. The heroic presentation in three-quarter view exaggerates their importance, and absent of driver or the obligatory crowd of kids, the trucks appear monumental, museum-worthy.

Also on display are his Chicago Police Department paddy wagon paintings, which are mainly appealing for their humorous likeness to ice cream trucks; they're one-note jokes. Funny and visually weird as this visual comparison is, once we get it that these trucks come to bring pain not pleasure, the enjoyment of looking at them is over.

His newer work deals with another urban subject so common we fail to see it -- paintings of trash he calls urban tumbleweeds. These have possibility but will become more interesting as Zimmermann backs off his bright color palette and studies his subject with the same sharp eye he uses on trucks.

© 2004 Margaret Hawkins and the Chicago Sun-Times

Linda Warren Gallery is pleased to present Vehicle, an exhibition featuring recent works by Chicago-based artist Jeff Zimmermann. Vehicle will debut a number of new paintings of paddy wagons, ice cream trucks, and 'urban tumbleweeds,' and will also include a section of a large-scale 2003 mural/painting entitled Dark Matter, which was recently included in a one-person show at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.

Zimmermann refers to his pieces as "realism with content." Often beginning with a photograph, he renders his subjects in exact detail that is rich with nuance. The responses to his loaded but subtle images are intended to vary according to the viewer's own experiences and emotions. The iconic figures and objects represented force the viewer to re-evaluate their pre-determined definitions of ugliness/beauty, decay/vitality, and irrelevance/relevance. The works included in Vehicle explore complex, opposite reactions of invitation combined with repulsion. The large- and small-scale paintings can be characterized as responses to the living urban environment. They are non-elite, incorporating mass-cultural references in a manner that is neither ironic nor pedantic.

The paintings of 'urban tumbleweeds' can appear beautiful when regarded as an array of reflective surfaces and colors, but can also be regarded as depictions of discarded street trash. The images of paddy wagons convey protection or intimidation, depending on the viewer's associations, but also appeal to a sense of voyeurism, as they imply dense but unfinished urban narratives. The ice cream trucks can be considered nostalgic, but lack any
sense of the good old days, missing their drivers, tree-lined streets, and consumers gathering to purchase frosty goodies. The vehicles' contexts are obscured by the colorful backgrounds, allowing the viewer to locate their
own stories within. These vehicles are simultaneously about the street, yet removed from the street.

Jeff Zimmermann received a BFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has exhibited at numerous galleries in the United States, Puerto Rico, and at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. His outdoor murals may be found across the city of Chicago, in Kenya, and in Peru.