The sideshow

John Stuart Berger’s new show at Midtown’s Upper Playground is called The Ubiquitous Mandible Crushing Sideshow, which invokes visions of birds getting smashed all over, a kind of evolutionary apocalypse. And this, while not exactly what the artist is after, isn’t far off: Berger’s described as a painter who “renders mutated organisms for your enjoyment.” Like this week’s cover painting, “Evolutionary Obsolete,” which features a confused, peg-legged, disfigured frog existing in a universe that’s part lovely sunny day, part acid rain. Yeah, sounds disturbing, but Berger’s paintings are comic and inventive. Find out more at www.johnstuartberger.com. His show is up through May 31.