T-Mobile 

Alex Gross created this painting, "T-Mobile," at an as yet undetermined date. It presents a figure whose face is a skull, and whose body is adorned with a snake, holding up a smartphone displaying a cheerful photo. The image vibrates with the anxieties of contemporary culture in the internet age. In the background, there is a pastoral landscape, yet it seems like a distant memory, overshadowed by the rise of digital technology. Gross makes clear that the culture of social media is haunted by mortality. Is he critiquing institutions of art? Perhaps Gross is suggesting that the institutions of art are increasingly irrelevant in a world dominated by social media and consumer culture. To get a deeper understanding of Gross's work, it would be helpful to look into the history of social media, the rise of consumer culture, and the changing role of art in contemporary society. These resources allow us to appreciate how the meaning of art is always contingent on social and institutional contexts.