REVERIE 2020

Alex Gross made Reverie in oil paint, but the date is unknown. I see a process where disparate images seem to collide, like thoughts popping up in your head. Look at the way the artist uses super smooth gradients in the figures, but then contrasts it with the sharper, almost photographic details on the bags and faces floating in the sky. The colour palette is this strange mix of naturalistic flesh tones, contrasted against surreal pops of colour. In the foreground, a mess of tulips with cartoonish colour saturation pushes against a field of flat, cloud-like sky. I am reminded of the surrealist artist, Magritte, who was also interested in juxtaposition, playing with scale and perspective. Art is never created in a vacuum. There is a dialogue, an exchange of ideas and a constant reimagining of what has come before. Ultimately, this painting is a reminder that meaning is always shifting, always up for grabs.