As lowbrow morphed into pop surrealism and then again into new contemporary, Copro Gallery was there. The venerable art hub founded by Greg Escalante (who also co-founded Juxtapoz magazine) traces its roots back to the 1990s and, for more than 20 years, has saluted both established and up-and-coming names. In more recent years, Copro has become the launchpad of viral art; the “Conjoined” series of group shows curated by Chet Zar has brought forth oddities such as Kevin Kirkpatrick's hyper-real busts of Beavis and Butt-Head and Kazu Tsuji's consistently stunning sculptures of artists and historical figures. Copro has been striking hard with shows from dark art masters Zar, Clive Barker and Chris Mars. This summer, it paid tribute to the icons of spooky and sexy images by hosting Heavy Metal's 40th-anniversary show, a group exhibition with a heavy-hitting roster packed with artists like Dan Quintana, Olivia de Berardinis, Ausgang, Alex Pardee and more.

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