In this exhibition, Mauri Gross’ lush undergrowth and flower motifs from recent years are intertwined with his monochrome minimalism series, highlighting the technical and substantive nuances of both through contrast. The result is a kind of layered traditionalism and a new product with the principle of dousing the surface area, depicted in meticulous detail, with paint. In doing so, Gross touches on the theme of mercy, which they in turn have interpreted in various contexts in earlier works – painting as a job, the issue of the death of the art of painting and self-sacrificial antique heroes carved in stone.
The hypnotising effect of Gross’ works lies in the fragmentation of the paintings, in entering the picture through the details and getting stuck inside them in a good way. Whereas in the past the artist has used this tool in their ‘cherry rain’ series, where when studying the dense berry matter more closely the ability to grasp it as a whole disappears and the viewer is quickly absorbed in just one berry at a time, here the undergrowth has the same effect. It is like spring thatch – perennial and layered, in some places yellowed and dried up and in others dotted with blades of grass.
