Alexis Rockman Traces the Unsettling Evolution of a Climate in Crisis

"Despite this catastrophic setting, there's also a tiny man standing in a canoe, seemingly unaware or unable to grasp the destruction. The unsettling scene is part of Alexis Rockman's Conflagration series, which translates a distinctly contemporary sense of climate anxiety into eerie paintings. Made from oil paint and cold wax on wood, these pieces are chunky and gestural, placing human touch and material excess in direct proximity."

"For nearly five decades, Rockman has rooted his practice in environmental concerns. Today, his body of work is a sort of archive of a changing climate, one in which dire warnings about a warming planet have not inspired robust action but rather entrenched us further in a cycle of denial and fatalism. Feedback Loop, then, is an apt title for the artist's upcoming debut at Jack Shainman Gallery."

"In biology, feedback loops are often categorized as either positive or negative, and Rockman suggests that we've entrenched ourselves in an inescapable downward spiral. Given the tiny, lone figures that occupy just a few paintings-others simply feature empty boats-he presents a world in which immense damage is done and the chance of rescue is near impossible. But where Rockman taps into a universal imbalance through recurring motifs of fire and smoke, he's also interested in the particular."

Alexis Rockman's Conflagration paintings depict apocalyptic shoreline and forest fires that melt landscapes and shroud skies in smoke, often with tiny human figures isolated in canoes or empty boats. Works employ oil paint and cold wax on wood with chunky, gestural surfaces that emphasize materiality and human touch. The oeuvre functions as an archive of a warming climate, tracing decades of escalating devastation and a cultural pattern of denial and fatalism. The Feedback Loop exhibition at Jack Shainman Gallery includes watercolors, cinematic panoramas, and works with soil and organic matter, presenting a visual timeline of intensifying environmental crisis.

Read at Colossal