666 2017

Ben Frost made this painting, called 666, layering images from different commercial sources in a way that is both alluring and a little bit wrong. I love the flatness of the colour, and the way the black outlines pop. It looks like it was made fast, almost as if these images were grabbed and pulled from different places. The surface is slick, a smooth, uninterrupted plane of colour. And these colours! High-key and bright, like candy. But the combination of Pinocchio, Pokemon, and that title throws you off. It’s like a mashup of childhood dreams and adult nightmares. Look closely at how Pikachu is being crushed under Pinocchio’s foot - there is something violent about it, even if the rendering is clean. Like Richard Prince, Frost uses appropriation to explore the darker sides of consumer culture. But in the end, painting always wins. It has a way of embracing the world.