Tomorrow (May 24th) in Hong Kong’s Gagosian outpost, Alex Israel will be opening his exhibition entitled New Waves. For his first solo in the Chinese city-state, he is taking a truly multi-media approach to presenting work inspired by surfer culture and growing up in the sunny metropolis of Los Angeles. Along with pieces related to his 2017 film SPF-18 (trailer below), there are also some almost sculptural wave logo pieces – also used thematically in the promo animated short for the showing.
Israel further explains – “I’m not really a surfer but I often think about my approach as related to surfing: I’m on a wave, and I either go with it or I don’t. In some ways, I find it interesting to let myself go with it, to see where it goes and to see how it works. Maybe that gives me the energy or the fuel to be able to carve into it, or to do tricks on it, or to change things up without fighting it.”
Adding to the consumerist culture of HK, this show will also include the debut of the American artist’s clothing brand, Infrathin, with apparel available for sale in a pop-up store in the gallery’s lobby.
Discuss Alex Israel here.
