BEN FROST – THE NEW POLLUTION
2015-07-06Australian artist Ben Frost is known for his kaleidoscopic Pop Art, mash-up paintings that take inspiration from areas as diverse as graffiti, collage, photo-realism and sign-writing. By subverting mainstream iconography from the worlds of advertising, entertainment and politics, he creates a visual framework that is bold, confronting and often controversial.
In ‘The New Pollution’ Frost makes us question how the elements of popular culture and advertising influence our everyday lives. Our urban environment is ‘polluted’ with the banal detritus of our hyper-consumption in the form of logos, billboards, colourful packaging and animated characters that aggressively compete to sell us endless sales pitches, disposable solutions and discount lifestyles. In his work Frost creates a reactionary dialogue against this pervasive and dictatorial experience, by appropriating and re-contextualising the very icons and totems that advertising feeds to us.
The title of this exhibition ‘The New Pollution’ reflects the unwanted and pervasive nature of advertising that infiltrates our visual and conceptual environment. It also describes the artist’s exploration of painting onto found objects and urban refuse – such as pharmaceutical packaging, candy and cereal boxes as well as fashion bags, board games, vintage stamps and ammunition packages.
Exhibition runs through to August 2nd, 2015
StolenSpace Gallery
17 Osborn Street
London
E1 6TD
