Chem IA
Signed Print

The screen print counteracts notions of classical art, exhibiting masterfully orchestrated compositions fuelled by an inclination for social commentary. Repurposing the inescapable imagery of commercial culture, the work’s formal sources can be traced back to the sleek industrial design of the 1930s.

Chem IA uses solid white support and inflated comic book shapes in its schematised depiction of a scientist studying the contents of a test tube. As the factory wheels turn in the lower-left corner of the canvas, so do the thoughts inside his head. Tone and texture are achieved through the superimposed Ben Day dots in the work’s backdrop. The stylised layout also functions as a cubist revision of the propaganda disseminated throughout the United States over the course of the 1970s.

The artist uses elementary symbols, rendering every shape an inanimate object. The angularity of the industrial elements depicted are offset by the curvilinear lines alluding to human touch. The imagery ultimately pins humanity against machinery, reflecting on industrialisation’s claim that peace is achievable through science. Saturated in irony, Chem IA is straightforward in its criticism of contemporary social and political change.