Maybe the word "pussy" was just an innocent purr back in 1871 when Victorian poet Edward Lear penned the nonsensical love poem "The Owl and the Pussycat" for which he is best remembered.

There is, after all, such coy catlike sibilance in the lines the Owl sings to his love as they sail under the stars in their pea-green boat: "O lovely Pussy,/ O Pussy my love,/ What a beautiful pussy you are,/ You are,/ You are,/ What a beautiful Pussy you are."

Still, it is hard for the mind of a modern reader not to wander into thickets of innuendo at such lyrics. Which is exactly where Minneapolis artist Rob McBroom intends to lead visitors in his clever new show at the Gallery @ Fox Tax, in northeast Minneapolis through Dec. 31.

In a dozen 3-foot-square panels, McBroom illustrates the 12 short stanzas in which Lear rhymes the exotic adventures of the mismatched couple who eloped with "some honey,/ and plenty of money,/ wrapped up in a five pound note." No doubt the poem's enduring popularity is due in part to the glamour of it all. What young lovers wouldn't envy a richly provisioned, yearlong honeymoon to a tropical island where compliant natives offer cheap services, free food and beach parties where the happy couple "hand in hand,/ on the edge of the sand,/ danced by the light of the moon."

Lear (1812-88) made his fortune as a sketch artist and writer of limericks and doggerel, a career that appeals to McBroom, whose own roots are firmly planted in a lowbrow art movement inspired by cartoons, anime characters and pop culture. A 1992 graduate of Minneapolis' North High School, he set out to be a starving cartoonist but expanded his aspirations to hungry artist, as upscale culture became more inclusive of such once-disparaged art forms as balloon animals and kitsch figurines. A former manager of Minneapolis' now defunct Ox-Op gallery, he has shown his work in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Barcelona and various Twin Cities venues. For the past decade he has routinely entered the prestigious National Duck Stamp competition, from which his paintings are only occasionally disqualified for unspecified reasons.

Logo mania

As a connoisseur of promiscuous capitalism, McBroom appreciates the power of logos as branding tools and ornamental eye-catchers. His paintings are full of them. Each image is designed like a loopy, free-form puzzle, incorporating images of up to 200 different logos, slogans and pop icons. One wing of the owl in the "Honey and Money" panel, for example, is the Mutual of Omaha logo; his beak alludes to Vassarette brassieres, and his eyes incorporate logos for McDonald's and Republicans for Obama. Other parts of the bird include the Nestlé emblem and the little Scotsman from Thriftway Foods, a local grocery.

The logo-embellished Pussy lolling across Owl's lap in that panel is drizzled with honey-colored glitter and has a plastic action figure embedded in her leg. As a painterly challenge to himself, McBroom glues 3-D objects to his canvases and slathers on pigment until they blend into the design. Other panels include a pair of Calvin Klein briefs, a pen, deodorant bottle, nipple clamps, Nintendo cartridge, a plastic banana and a rosary. There are also little jokes in cartoon speech bubbles.

McBroom's penchant for logo sampling and modernist baroque clutter doesn't simplify his task, however. He goes to extraordinary lengths to design each painting and to get the scale, angles and lighting right. He went to a boat show and made hundreds of photos of cruisers from myriad angles as studies for different boat images. To prepare just one of Pussy's pinup-style poses, he mail-ordered a sexy Australian sailor uniform and had a gal pal model it. In the finished version of that panel, titled "Small Guitar," the owl croons and strums while the pinup Pussy poses on the prow of a vessel speeding through foaming waves sparkling with Swarovski crystals.

That ours is a thoroughly branded world is not news. We all pay premium prices for the privilege of sporting choice logos on our clothing and cars, ride in advertising-wrapped trains and buses, and gaze at buildings embellished with emblems of commerce. McBroom's genius is to show playfully how the world might look when the invisible hand of the market is manifest on absolutely everything, including the stars above. They're Subaru's.

Mary Abbe • 612-673-4431