BOOK FEATURE : : : :

The dreamlike art of Alex Gross transcends genre.

At once crisply realistic and eerily fantastic, his work is a mélange of fairy tale, allegory, and pop culture references. With imagery steeped in both Asian and Western influences, Gross' paintings present a world populated by traditional Japanese figures in kimonos and lost-looking Victorian dandies. Incorporating old-time advertising graphics, military memorabilia, cartoon characters, and vintage photography, these pictures remain as unexpected as they are haunting.

Gross' unique mix of realism and whimsy has made his work hugely popular with fans of pop surrealism, and has garnered much critical acclaim and crossover success with art connoisseurs as well. THE ART OF ALEX GROSS includes paintings, etchings, silk screens, sketches, and digital art in more than 80 color plates. The book also includes an introduction by cultural critic Bruce Sterling.

One of the first things you notice about Gross' work—particularly his early work—is the Japanese influence. He tells Morgan Slade in an interview, "Before 1998 I was doing commercial work and was totally fed up, but I really didn't know what direction to go with my work. So, going to Japan in '98 for the first time and seeing all the amazing visual stuff there rekindled the excitement and interest I had as a kid. I bought a wonderful medicine packaging book, and a great sci-fi movie poster book, along with some other stuff that I brought back. I now had hundreds of pages of incredibly inspiring imagery that was all new to me. So it was just a starting point, a creative rebirth, so to speak."

You find many images recurring in Gross' work. There are airplanes, bombs, cityscapes, butterflies, flames, and much more. Of this, Gross says, "There's definitely a visual vocabulary that any artist uses, which can become repetitious if they use it all of the time. Ultimately, to me, I think it's just because there is a certain set of images that I am interested in as an artist, and those images might recur for a while in my work, until I move on. And later, I might reference them again."

Gross' work always features at least one central figure as its focus. "It almost always starts with a figure; all my stuff has a figure," he says. "I haven't done any landscapes with no living beings yet. So there's usually a main character image that's either just in my head, or from something that I saw somewhere. Ultimately, in all of the paintings I do, there is a certain kind of feeling, a tone that I want to convey right from the start. It's always there in my mind, half unconsciously, and as I think about it, that unconscious thing in my mind dictates, 'Yes, it would work to put this in,' or 'No, that would be too much.'"

Explore Gross' work for yourself in this excerpt.

WIN AN ALEX GROSS PRINT!
Win a limited-edition giclée print of Gross' painting "The True Origin of the Green Lantern" (value $149). Just email webmaster@chroniclebooks.com with the subject line "The Art of Alex Gross."

More Art & Design Titles

CORE MEMORY
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/corememory/

An unprecedented combination of computer history and striking images, Core Memory reveals modern technology's evolution through the world's most renowned computer collection.

HOLLYWOOD DADS
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/hollywooddads/

Photographer Joyce Ostin, renowned for her New York Times bestseller Hollywood Moms, goes behind the scenes to capture 50 famous fathers with their children.

THE 1000 JOURNALS PROJECT
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/1000journals/

One thousand blank journals are currently circulating throughout the world, beckoning contributors who find the journals by chance on trains, in cafés, and anonymously left on doorsteps. Artist Someguy shares more than 250 of the best entries.

FLORENCE BROADHURST
http://www.chroniclebooks.com/florencebroadhurst/

Florence Broadhurst paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman ahead of her time. To this day, mystery shrouds her myriad personae—starlet, couturier, painter—as well as her unsolved murder.

CHRONICLE BOOKS
680 SECOND STREET
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107
[P] 415.537.4000

Thank you for subscribing to Book Blast: Art & Design. If you wish to unsubscribe, click here.

Email webmaster@chroniclebooks.com with comments or questions. If you can't see this, go to
www.chroniclebooks.com/
BOOKBLAST/artdesign071807.html