Alex Gross (born August 30, 1968) is a visual artist currently working in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. He specializes in oil paintings on canvas whose themes include globalization, commerce, beauty, dark mayhem, and the passage of time. Gross graduated in 1990 from

Art Center College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

, in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. Since then, he has become established as an artist in the

Pop Surrealism Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, is an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1960s. It is a populist art movement with its cultural roots in underground comix, punk music, tiki culture, graffiti, and ...

movement. In 2000, Gross received a fellowship from the Japan Foundation. He spent two months traveling throughout

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, researching and collecting a variety of Japanese Fine and Commercial art, as research for his own artwork. Part of his collection was compiled and published by

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt Taschen and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Tasch ...

under the title Japanese Beauties in 2004. In 2006, Chronicle books published ''The Art of Alex Gross'', a monograph featuring Gross' painting, drawing and printmaking from 1999 through 2007. Science Fiction author

Bruce Sterling Michael Bruce Sterling (born April 14, 1954) is an American science fiction author known for his novels and short fiction and editorship of the ''Mirrorshades'' anthology. In particular, he is linked to the cyberpunk subgenre. Sterling's first ...

penned the introduction to the book. His art has been featured in numerous publications including the book Pop Surrealism,

Juxtapoz ''Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine'' (pronounced ''JUX-tah-pose'') is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III (a.k.a. Craig Stecyk), Greg Escalante, and Eric ...

, ''

Los Angeles Magazine ''Los Angeles,'' formerly known as ''Southern California Prompter'', is a monthly magazine based in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on telling regional news, culture, lifestyle, entertainment, and fashion stories from Los Angeles and the br ...

'', ''

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' (acronym: CA) is the largest international trade journal of visual communication. Founded in 1959 by Richard Coyne and Robert Blanchard, the magazine's coverage includes graphic design, advertising, photography, illustra ...

'', Taiwanese magazine ''XFUNS'', and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. In August, 2007. California State Fullerton's Grand Central Art Center hosted a retrospective museum show featuring an array of Gross' work from different periods throughout his career. In a review of the museum show, the Orange County Register wrote that "Gross' work is highly representational and, unlike many of his contemporaries lumped into the so-called low-brow art niche, he is an excellent draftsman. He also demands that one know a bit about world culture, history and politics and have the wit to appreciate his sense of irony." Gross' work was also featured in the Laguna Art Museum's exhibition and catalogue "In the land of Retinal Delights", in July, 2008. His work has been featured on the cover of the band

Blonde Redhead Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino (vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar) and identical twin brothers Simone (drums, keyboards) and Amedeo Pace (lead guitar, bass, keyboards, vocals) that formed in New York ...

's album '' 23'', as well as on the cover of the paperback version of '' After Dark'', the national bestseller by

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for hi ...

,-Haruki Murakami, (2008) After Dark, Vintage Books, published by

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

References

External links

Alex Gross' official website

Jonathan Levine Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Alex 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Painters from California People from Roslyn Heights, New York 1968 births Living people Fantastic art 20th-century American male artists