The pop explosion of Kelly McCray’s annual group show at Edward Day Gallery is ideal for the season. Similar, garish visions clamour for attention like car stereos in a park: there’s the cheap blast of Andrew Harwood’s sequined prints of JoJo Savard and Dionne Warwick (his “Psychic Friends” series, natch), and the gothy growl of Diana Thorneycroft’s moderately successful pencil drawings of cartoon characters like Olive Oyl and Wilma murdering their mates. Sadko Hadzihasanovic’s vapid portraits of Prince William seem almost quiet in comparison, with their light strokes and pastel pinks.

Dawolu Jabari Anderson’s work is worthy of more contemplation and is, coincidentally, the most thunderous of the bunch. A Houston-based artist and member of the Otabenga Jones & Associates collective (who were in the 2006 Whitney Biennial), Anderson is part of a younger generation of black artists who are consciously elaborating on the use of kitsch by their identity-politics forebears. Anderson’s templates are from the early- to mid-20th century: he uses marker, acrylic and makeup to create large-scale pulp and comic book covers featuring African-­American stereotypes as heroes. The gesture resonates because of its play on simple dualities; as with the work of Aboriginal artists Jeff Thomas and Kent Monkman, it can come off as the result of a politically incorrect dare. Fear is, in fact, a potent quality of Anderson’s work — fear of history and of vengeful brutality, sentiments for which the thick lines and saturated colours of pop are perfect fits.

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