Brandt Peters hasn’t brought his work to New York in a minute, but that doesn’t mean he’s not on our radar. His first solo show on the West Coast, “Cackle Factory,” is set to open next week in Los Angeles at Gallery 1988. Most often using oil paint on wood, Peters’ subjects tend to be deviant little cartoons with expressive eyes. They are beautiful, but odd, and often seem to have their innocence challenged while their alter-egos are glorified.

The same day as the opening, Peters will be launching an all new one-stop-shop website that will feature his upcoming plans and projects for 2009. We’ll have to be patient though, as the byproduct of his MINDstyle collabo has yet to drop—the two paired up to create a Serv-O-matic mini figure line—and his latest Peacemaker vinyl character will only debut at New York’s Comic Con. He’s also promised to bring his “Slap Happy” series into animation. For now, the “Cackle Factory” will have to do. Peters claims that the exhibition title is actually a 1940’s slang term for an asylum, so we can expect that the menagerie of characters to be presented this time around are certifiably insane.

-Danielle Cheesman