Malerei, die eine Straßenszene mit drei Personen im Vordergrund zeigt: eine Schülerlotsin, in ihrer rechten Hand ein Warnschild mit der Aufschrift „Slow“, ein Vater und ein Mädchen. Nur das Kind sieht aus dem Bild heraus und nimmt Blickkontakt zu uns auf. Ein Bauzaun versperrt die Sicht auf unbewohnt und steril wirkende Hochhäuser im Hintergrund.

Aaron Gilbert

Crossing Guard, 2022

MaterialÖl auf Leinwand
Dimensions203.2 x 365.8 cm
Inventory numberUAB 1343
On viewCurrently not exhibited
Copyright© Aaron Gilbert, Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery. Foto: David Regen

More about the artwork

In “Crossing Guard,” our gaze falls on a street scene with three people in the foreground: a crossing guard, holding a warning sign with the word “Slow” in her right hand, a father, and a girl. Only the child looks out of the picture and makes eye contact with us. The curb seems to merge with the lower edge of the picture, giving the impression that the three people could step over the threshold and out of the picture at any time. A construction fence blocks the view of uninhabited and sterile-looking high-rise buildings in the background. A humanoid figure sits on a power line leading to a toppling electricity pylon. The orange-purple sky is streaked with clouds and resembles the sky in Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” (1893). The light blue sun, consisting of two concentric circles, is reminiscent of both a divine eye and a brand logo. All this lends the scene an unreal quality. The everyday scene is characterized by the effects of capitalist urban planning as well as a hidden spiritualism. In the words of the artist: “The bodies I depict are under the weight of capitalism. I want that force to be very present. I want it to be as dominant in the work as it is in our lives. You have the presence of these forces but then I’m interested in finding where we can access the power that can circumvent the rules of the game.”