Tag: Future Tense

Thursday night's opening of Alex Gross's "Future Tense" at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York's Chelsea district greeted viewers with a heavy dose of consumer culture. The exhibition initially comes off as accessible and playfully reflective of modern addictions, yet the works as a group are rather grim and much harder to swallow than their glossy, candy-colored exteriors would suggest.

Los Angeles-based artist Alex Gross (featured in HF Vol. 21) recently completed a series of oil paintings and mixed-media works for his upcoming show, "Future Tense," opening October 9 at NYC's Jonathan LeVine Gallery. His bright new works utilize realist techniques with such perfectionism that his characters more closely resemble Photoshopped models in magazines than anyone we'd encounter in real life. This glossy look adds to the impact of Gross's underlying cultural critique. Always plugged in and connected, his characters seem far from engaged in the present moment. While they pacify themselves with smartphones and junk food, their gazes look vacant and their happiness, fleeting.