{{{click on images to enlarge}}}
What if Abbie Hoffman had been cryogenically frozen after
his suicide in 1989 and was then brought back to life again now? I’m pretty sure this icon of counter-culture idealism
and integrity would simply kill himself again, and Alex Gross’ amazingly
engaging and sardonic paintings at Jonathan LeVine Gallery would help explain
why. Branding seems to be the focus in
this show and branding has become the core of the new world-wide ideology,
superseding all forms of humanism and creating its own faux humanism – the
humanism of the satisfied and pacified buyer of expensive ego-stroking crap.
Since the 1960s we’ve been riding the moral curve downward and consumerism has
been the gravitational force.
No Logo by
Naomi Klein is, in my opinion, still a must read. Her book revealed that
branding is almost mystical in its effects, yet totally empty in its content. A
product’s brand exists to help the consumer lose his or her identity under the
rubric of a product identity. A product’s
brand can create an aura that consumers want to connect to and reflect as part
of themselves. I am a Starbucks’ patron,
a Mac user, a Gucci buyer, etc. Each of these brands confers something extra to
the often bland personality partaking of the goods. By choosing your brands wisely, however, you
can exist beyond reproach and, indeed, become the judge and jury of those who
simply have failed to realize the importance of dedicating one’s life to
competition, greed and self-blindness.
In ‘Drones’ we see the sad effects of a culture dedicated
to narcissism and hedonism and oblivious of ethical values or the search for
meaning. The smiling broadcasters
cheerily report on the latest drone strikes, Obama experiences a type of
ecstasy of self-glory, a sheep passively looks on.
In ‘Shopaholics’ the brand buyers are sheep-headed and
surrounded by vultures, as if the shoppers have little to offer the world other
than flesh to be consumed, someday, by carrion. Or are the shoppers ignoring
this vanitas theme – recognize your mortality, repent, do penance, prioritize
your values, see and engage the world and strive for meaning.
Abject nothingness registers on the face of the girl in ‘Candy
Crush’ as she is tuned in to her handy electronic syringe of saccharine junk.
In ‘Distractions’ we are confronted by our peers who never learned to say “NO!”
and who see little to be upset about.
In
‘Service Industry’ we see the professional deformation that occurs among those
who cater to our needs, as a quite debonair Yul Brynner puffs his way to lung
cancer and Bashar al-Assad lurks in the background. Don’t worry, though, consumerism will destroy
all forms of tyranny! We’ve got the drones, baby, and our president knows how
to use them.
This is a must-see show.
Gross strikes at the heart of many things that are rotten in our society
and does so with wit and moral strength.
This is the kind of social satire that hearkens back to the New
Objectivity Movement of Weimar Germany while exhibiting a more Frankfurt School
critique of contemporary culture, showing how Gramscian ‘hegemony’ and the cult
of consumerism walk hand in hand.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.