ALEXIS ROCKMAN

Salomon Contemporary, New York is pleased to announce Thunderdome, a selection of work by contemporary artist Alexis Rockman. The exhibition runs concurrent with A Fable for Tomorrow, a major survey of Rockman's work that opens at The Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. on November 19, 2010.

Although the exhibition title does not directly reference George Miller's post-apocalyptic action cycle, it suggests a parallel universe of diminished resources. In the third Mad Max installment, Thunderdome is a sanctioned arena where aggressive human behavior, a basic part of evolutionary history, can be played out without devastating consequences to the planet. In Rockman's work, the Earth is the catastrophic realm predating Thunderdome, where the struggle and interactions between humans, creatures, and atmospheric conditions are not confined within a simple set of boundaries.

Rockman's crystal ball manifests itself in complex compositions with a combination of hyperrealist brush, alchemistic pours, and mastery of the palette knife. The brilliant color palette that easily captures the essence of a blazing sky, melting ice cap, murky water, or arid landscape, brings forth an even more intense visual experience.

Alexis Rockman currently lives and works in New York. He has a degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York and has participated in many international and US exhibitions in major galleries and institutions since 1989. His work is found in many private and public collections such as The Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Public Library, Baltimore Art Museum, Wurth Museum, and The Israel Museum.