THE CHILD 2020

Alex Gross’s The Child is a meticulously rendered painting with a hallucinatory vibe. I imagine him layering thin glazes of colour to create those rich, saturated hues and smooth surfaces. The subject matter is so playful! Gross has placed “The Child” from The Mandalorian atop a strange beast amidst a field of toadstools. Floating heads and colourful spheres hang in the air, beneath a rainbow. What might Gross have been thinking? Is it a dreamscape? A comment on popular culture? I think of other painters like Lisa Yuskavage or Kenny Scharf, who also create fantastical worlds mixing innocence and dark humour. Each artist has their own way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. And they bring a new perspective to the rest of us. Ultimately painting is a conversation across time and place, and Gross’s piece is a great example of how art can be both deeply personal and universally resonant.