In 2011 I stumbled upon Alex Gross, an American painter of Pop Surrealism movement whose opus includes paintings that involve brands. In autumn of 2010 Gross had an exhibition Discrepancies in Jonathan Levine Gallery in New York. In one interview Alex Gross admitted that he’s influenced by the world around him and by advertising imagery, because it’s inescapable in the world around us.

Alex Gross' paintings: Product Placement (2010) and End User (2010)
Alex Gross’ paintings: Product Placement (2010) and End User (2010)


This year there’s another exhibition that includes product placement. It’s taking place at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles from March 9 to March 30. The gallery was opened in 2004 on the famous corner of Melrose and La Brea and is frequently staging pop-culture themed artwork and exhibitions.

The exhibition is called Product placement and it features fictional ads for some very well known movies and TV series.

Examples that can be seen at the gallery are Tarantino’s Red Apple Cigarettes, the Caterpillar P-5000 from Alien, and Lindsay Bluth’s Hot Ham Water from Arrested Development.

Below you can see the aforementioned paintings and also Joshua Budich’s piece, based on the Interceptor from Mad Max.

Aled Lewis “Quality To The Core”

 

Tom Whalen “Caterpillar P-5000 Work Loader”

 

John Vogl “Lindsay Bluth’s Hot Ham Water”

 

Joshua Budich “Interceptor”


You can see more paintings from the exhibition from the gallery’s official website and read more about Alex Gross’ painting in blog post Brands on paintings.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to see the exhibition, but if anyone of you went to the Gallery 1988, please let us know your thoughts.