By Marilyn Bauer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Jason Brunson's (above) exhibit of colorful paintings at the Linda Schwartz Gallery includes "Duckies O Doom" (below). (Tony Jones/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Skateboarder, graffiti artist and tattoo designer Jason Brunson, 33, says he has "really weird stuff in his head." He will open a portal into that world of deranged characters and Yellow Submarine colors in Sweet Dreams at the Linda Schwartz Gallery.

"There's no real meaning," he says. "It's me watching cartoons and reading comic books. It evolved from me drawing weird little cartoony guys. That's how I paint."

Sounds intense, a bit Robert Crumb-ish. But this baby-faced, blue-eyed trendsetter looks more like an angel than the bespectacled, perverse "Keep on Truckin' " cartoonist.

For the installation at Schwartz's gallery, Brunson has not only hung his canvases, but painted the gallery walls pink. He wants visitors to feel as though they are walking into one of his paintings.

"If I had to describe myself," he says, "I would say I am boring, fat and artistic. I am so not like my generation - parties, having kids at 15. I don't drink or smoke. I've always found other outlets. Skateboarding saved me."

Brunson still skates. He's been skating for 14 years, which has added a whiff of danger to his cherubic makeup. As you would expect, he has elaborate tattoos. One arm is covered with heavily inked imagery from the Mexican celebration "Day of the Dead," and the other arm is obscured by a swirling nebula of Balinese masks.

IF YOU GO

What: Jason Brunson, Sweet Dreams When: Through April 16 Where: Linda Schwartz Gallery, 315 W. Fourth St., downtown Information: 241-4202 or www.lsgallery.com

Born in Dayton, Ky., Brunson now lives in Northside with wife Souli, two Yorkshire terriers and a French bulldog. He grew up in the Cincinnati tattoo parlor run by his father, Dana, and started inking tattoos when he was 18.

"The weirdest tattoo anyone asked me to do was a whole scene on the Zodiac killer," he says of his work at his father's shop. "The whole scene on his arm with people's heads cut off."

Brunson studied art at Dayton High, but he was the only person in his art history class and one of three in studio art.

He graduated third in his class with a 4.0 average, but when it came time for college, he lasted only three days at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

"It was too boring," he says. "The Old Masters, it wasn't for me. "

Brunson worked to turn his illustrations into paintings, though the images remained very "cartoony" as he continued to employ the same bright colors he uses today. His quest was to find a "vision of what a little kid would draw."

"There are serious underpinnings of what Jason is trying to do," says Todd Pavlisko, curator of the Schwartz show. "You arrive at his paintings and think you are going to be dealing with these childlike characters. But they are quite the opposite. Jason is the wolf in sheep's clothing. One of his characters is a distorted Mickey Mouse. Underneath the mouse is another character. One a lot more sinister and human."

"I'm a little crazy," Brunson says, "but in a good way. I just sit at home and work on my artwork." In between creating his otherworldy pieces, he also listens to Black Sabbath, eats junk food and watches The Simpsons.

It's only in the last two years that he has gotten serious about his work. That may be why he is working overtime to provide a unique experience at the gallery.

"Painting the inside of the gallery is as much work as doing all the canvases," he says. "I want people to be able to walk into the painting. I want them to be immersed in the environment."