Name/Title
Alex Gross, "Release"Entry/Object ID
003Description
In this evocative and beautiful image, a well-dressed woman in heels, knee-length-skirt, and a chic blue overcoat is standing on an unlikely rocky outcrop in front of a churning sea. Her statuesque figure dominates the picture plane. The woman's hair, handbag, and coat are buffeted by a strong wind, as is the single tulip near her feet. The ocean behind/beneath her lightens in color at the horizon, while the sky darkens as it moves away from the horizon. In a delicate gesture, the woman holds a tiny, wire bird cage; she seems to have just opened its door, releasing an arc (a lovely touch) of butterflies into the sky. The last butterfly to emerge from the cage hovers in front of the woman's face, and they appear to be in some kind of rhapsodic communication. As the woman's hair is blown away from her face, we can see her eyes are darkened, and her expression is impossible to describe with accuracy. In a dramatic flourish, a propeller plane in the distance behind the woman crashes into the ocean, one engine leaving a large plume of smoke in its wake. The crash doesn't seem violent or horrific; it's as if the plane is a toy in the hand of a child in a bathtub.Inscription/Signature/Marks
Signed and dated lower rightGeneral Notes
Note Type
Cataloging NoteNote
Alex Gross is best known for his riffs on pop culture mashups, painted with impeccable technical mastery. His images of iconic cultural touchstones are much in demand, and range from Star Wars to Spiderman to 7/11, from Game of Thrones to Gucci handbags. My preference is for his haunting portraits, which can be seen at his website: alexgross.com (see especially Paintings, Page Two). Alex's techniques lend themselves especially well to portraiture, and when I look at paintings such as "Storm" or "Ivy", I am awed by their intensity and psychological power. I was fortunate to come across Alex's work more than 15 years ago, and we connected in our appreciation for the art of George Tooker, whose work Alex references often in his own paintings.