Volcom 

Editor: Alex Gross's painting "Volcom" presents us with such a bizarre portrait. The disembodied eyes on stalks emerging from the subject's eye sockets are immediately unsettling, juxtaposed with the stoic expression of the main figure and the unsettlingly direct stare from the girl in the background. It feels simultaneously political and absurd. How do you interpret this work? Curator: It’s fascinating how Gross uses the visual language of surrealism to tap into our collective anxieties and memories. Eyes are a potent symbol; they can represent knowledge, surveillance, or even the soul. Here, the snake-like stalks evoke temptation, perhaps manipulation, linking back to ancient mythological associations. Editor: So, are you suggesting that these eye-snakes imply manipulation and deception? Curator: Precisely. Consider how Gross subverts traditional portraiture. The Volcom logo suggests consumerism and maybe even conformity. Combined with the imagery surrounding sight, are we being told something about what – and how - we choose to see, consume, and believe? Editor: That's a powerful reading! I hadn’t connected the logo so directly. Is the presence of a young girl meant to communicate an added message? Curator: Yes. Her watchful gaze brings the themes of generational memory and the transmission of values or perhaps trauma into play. The portrait moves beyond a representation of a single individual and turns into a larger commentary on societal conditioning. It uses disturbing imagery to ask: What vision are we passing on? Editor: It is interesting how Gross employs potent symbolism to evoke those cultural undertones and prompt those inquiries concerning cultural memory. Curator: Precisely, these unsettling symbols really lodge themselves in the viewers consciousness.