Alake Shilling: The Hippest Trip in America

The art of Alake Shillings offers a colorful nostalgic romp through childhood iconography

In the paintings and sculptures of Los Angeles-based artist Alake Shilling (born 1993), cutesy characters and plush creatures travel through a saturated world where disco and Lisa Frank aesthetics collide, often in a grassy knoll or ocean swell. Indeed, Shilling derives much inspiration from her childhood obsession with Frank and the design style of after-school crafts-imagery that connotes comfort and innocence. Unlike the works of Frank, however, Shilling's painted characters contain imperfections, a sense of vulnerability and weariness that adults know all too well. In The Hippest Trip in America: By Land, Air and Sea, the artist's works are paired with her source material, and texts by artists and writers Laura Owens, Kidogo Kennedy, Perwana Nazif and Grant Levy-Lucero are interspersed throughout. In a delightful nod to Frank, a sticker sheet insert is included on the back cover of the book.