You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland, and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes. You take the purple pill, and before you know it you’ve got a collection of hyper-real paintings of people pulling funny faces and odd shapes from Los Angeles artist Jeff Ramirez.

That line between the real and the illusory is a damned difficult one to spot when looking at Ramirez’s work, on show at L.A. gallery Thinkspace with fellow artist Dan Lydersen under the Endless Vacation exhibition title. Ramirez creates scenes that could be party snaps, with flash-lit subjects captured in the foreground of dark and murky venues, and the slight but still perceivable divorce from reality that comes from hyper-real painting gives the works a vaguely eerie quality. The Endless Vacation ends on 31 August.

Jinx Removing, 2013
Oil on wood panel
11 x 13.75″
28 x 35 cm

There There, 2013
Oil on wood panel
12 x 9″
30 x 23 cm

Every Place and Every Moment
is Always The Best, 2012
Oil on wood panel
6 x 8″
15 x 20 cm

Out of Gas, 2013
Oil on wood panel
7 x 5″
18 x 13 cm

You Can’t Always Get What You, 2013
Oil on wood panel
9 x 12″
23 x 30 cm

Ain’t It Fun, 2013
Oil on wood panel
9 x 12″
23 x 30 cm

Endless Vacation, 2013
Oil on wood panel
8 x 10″
20 x 25 cm