A dreamlike mix of retro Japanese-style visuals, Victorian imagery and consumer culture iconography is found in the oil paintings of California-based artist Alex Gross.
Koshimaki-Osen, 2003
The Sugar Sickness, 2001
Ice Cream Cone (Despair), 2007
Mammon, 2010
Lanvin (Paris), 2010
The Twenty, 2003
The Meaning, 2004
Hierophant, 2008
Jozaikai (Purgatory), 2009
Slander, 2010
The Last Judgement, 2007
Hakike (La Nausee), 2002
Shokei, 2004
Kool Aid Drinkers, 2010
[Link: The Art of Alex Gross]
Joel
Brillant painting, many things to think while looking at them, and great as always PT!
[]FifthDream
These are amazing. Thanks for bringing this artist to my attention.
[]RMilner
Kool Aid Drinkers -- I wouldn't have called George Orwell a good example to put in the picture.
[]Winston
Actually a great example if you see the iPhone as an Orwellian instrument of control.
[]alex gross
thanks winston.
[]Matthew Meyer
Oh wow! Fantastic paintings!
I love the blending on Western and Japanese aesthetics.
Great find, and thanks for sharing!
[]Doug White
Okay, I'll bite. What's with the strawberry ice cream cones? I can appreciate surrealism, but it appears in several pictures; it must have some... deeper meaning.
Unless the dude just really likes ice cream.
[]__mu
My take is that it symbolizes a child / innocence.
[]Required
Would like to see his full Tarot series. Would be an interesting deck.
[]gbb
this stuff sucks
[]john
You suck.
[]AkaTako
I've been a fan of Alex Gross ever since I learned about him through Trevor Brown's blog. Wow that was a long time ago. Nice to see he's still creating quality works with his distinctly surreal style.
[]Lisa Chang
I have two prints hanging in my house -- in places of honor. Koshimaki-Osen figures prominently in their pretend play! Love his work. Love the dreamy quality. Clearly my children love it too.
[]Annie
Awesome Painting...
[]otirudam
fantastic paintings, great technique, but i cant understand the meanings
[]asanisemasa
If you'd like to know the meanings, the symbols used have to do with illuminati/ NWO/ MK Ultra conspiracy theories. The Monarch butterfly and the ice cream cone are symbols used in Monarch programing (MK Ultra). The plane above her head signals chemtrail conspiracies. All these paintings also include occult symbols: The goat (satan), the snake (serpent used in various religions) . The Picture of the falling Phoenix is one of the oldest and most used myths in history -- if you'd like to learn more about it read Borges work "The Sect of the Phoenix", an ambiguous piece about a secret society. He has an illuminati all seeing eye the "the Twenty", and the one after it is an image of Baphomet. The Hierophant is a card in the Tarot. He is heavily into occult symbology; to someone who has researched this stuff, it is blatantly obvious. He seems to be commenting on our society, obsessing over products and being mindless slaves oblivious to the inner workings and power structure of society and nature around us. Most people wouldn't understand the symbols used here, that's why it's esoteric; it's knowledge reserved for the few.
[]iconoclast
asanisemasa- "most people here wouldn't understand the symbols used here". Fucking get over yourself.
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