BLAM! Greg Gossel‘s psychedelic superheroes come at you like a sock to the jaw from the Man of Steel himself. The mixed media artist continues his high-impact exploration of the Pop aesthetic with an exhibition of more than 30 new works on canvas, wood and paper at Vertical Gallery, Chicago. As the title Superficial! suggests, the action is a straightforward duke out between the forces of good and evil in the form of vintage superheroes and villains from the archives who continue the eternal battle that has been raging on the pages for decades.
Wisconsin born Gossel has deconstructed scores of images from old Marvel and DC stories, fragmenting and then re-assembling them into new panels. The costumes may have had a major colour refresh, but the characters themselves have the faded quality of old billboards – these once invulnerable icons are feeling the effects of time, prompting Gossel’s work to ask what, if anything, lies beneath the surface. Numerous layers of spray paint, silkscreen ink and collage battle for attention as the figures battle each other in a chaotic landscape of the artist’s creation. Superficial! Runs until 1 November.
