World War Three 2017

Ben Frost made this screenprint, featuring flat planes of block color and black outlines, in a style that recalls Pop Art of the 1960s. Think of Andy Warhol churning out images of soup cans. But here, Frost has given the format a contemporary twist, layering a comic-book aesthetic with a timely statement about our consumer culture. The tearful woman laments a possible global conflict only moments after purchasing the latest iPhone. Screenprinting is a mechanical process, allowing for multiples and repetition. Frost has used this feature to deliver a message about the excesses of capitalism, and a society that favors ephemeral desires over global realities. By appropriating a familiar, comic-book style, he questions the boundary between high art and low culture, and underscores the amount of labor involved in the production process, inviting reflection on how meaning is shaped by production.