This is Muffinhead, a soft-spoken walking art installation of stimulation. His mixed media pieces consist of dazzling uber colors that perfectly collide into anime-esque social commentaries and whimsical self portraits that make you want to wake up every morning with a smile in your heart. Even a piece of his called "Sad Hilter" (for me Hilter is only lighthearted in the hands of Mel Brooks) or his popular "Beauty School Terrorist" somehow feel uplifting, forcing a slight smirky smile on your face. Marc Jacobs and Matthew Williamson (even Target or Pepsi) could have a lot of fun collaborating with this barometer of electric SUPER POP. With a will to excite and entertain the eye, this guy (check out his upcoming exhibition called “The Exclamatinist” at Arena Studios in NYC on February 7th) seems as if he could be a graduate (along with Daniel Lismore out of London or John Quale aka PAPICOCK in Los Angeles) of the Leigh Bowery School of Underground Fun.

I spotted Muffinhead in New York City yesterday at 11:55 p.m. at Van Dam, as the wondrous Suzanne Bartsch (dressed in canary yellow ostrich feathers) and the legendary, ever-so-charming Kenny Kenny (looking ultra Cabaret) greeted me at the door, apologizing for the limited space inside of their super-fab party. The room was filled with adventurous club kids, females dressed as drag queens -- and the people who love them. But the over-packed party was popping with an energy that screamed NEW YORK IS READY FOR MORE FUN!!! And seeing Muffinhead emerging through the totally throbbing steaming hot dance floor (thanks to Johnny Dynell) was a vision to behold... kinda like Dorothy landing in Oz.

With the walls and ceiling of the lower level of club Greenhouse covered in dried brown tree leaves (Does anyone remember HAPPYLAND?!), Muffinhead was dressed in a giant floral afro wig sculpture of colorful oversized and overdone fake flowers (think Spanish Harlem) blooming from his scalp, looking like a walking pinata with a dash of Black Power, as if floating out from the pages of an urban Midsummer’s Night Dream. Below his self-applied scribble-scrabble made-up joker face (for some reason I kept imagining Phyllis Diller), he wore a shocking uniform consisting of a red peak lapel suit (very power '80s Moschino meets '70s pimped out jive turkey) with a true blue collared shirt and blinding white tie. All this red, white and blue felt very super-hero-businessman-politician ready to save the economy and fight off evil Madoff type villians getting ready to pull another fast one on the people of the World. Balancing his act were Party Monster meets Herman Munster '90s style super thick electro-pink platform shoes a la James St. James and Michael Alig with Che Guevara (evoking subliminal signs of a much needed pop culture revolution), Warholian-esqe printed plastic shoulder bag. The bold color combinations reflect the enthusiasm that swept New York this month for all things Stephen Sprouse (also check out welovesprouse.com or thestephensprousebook.com).

Enthusiasm is the key word here, because for me, Muffinhead was a sign of the good things to come in 2009. Already this year: out with Bush, in with hopeful Barack; out with loud mouth phony Joe the Plumber, in with self-respecting humble hero Chesley Sullenberg (Flight 1549 and the Miracle in the Hudson feels like a good sign for NYC); and on this very cold, very slushy winter night in the basement of an overcrowded, overheated cramped disco, Muffinhead and his Springtime moving installation Afro-Superhero look was warding off any leftover residue from 2008 that may have wanted to creep in.