ALEX KERR
Alex Kerr (b. 1989) is an LA-based visual artist whose work explores ways of seeing and being seen. Using a variety of media, including oil, acrylic sheets, ceramic and wood, Kerr builds dizzying, technicolor worlds for himself to hide out in, or at least pretend to. This diverse body of work is steeped in uncanny, dramaturgic tropes — the harlequin, the vanity mirror, the curtain, the clown, the mask — icons of a stylized version of razzle-dazzle stage productions. These images comprise an existential iconography that questions the singular ways Kerr masks, or mascs, through the freedom and farce of daily performance. Where does the stage begin and end? Is the act catharsis or trap? Is there truth at the bottom of the lie? Utilizing repetition, redundancy and disquieting color & pattern, Kerr renders otherwise blithe scenes suddenly uncomfortable or embarrassing — distorted fun houses that veil Kerr’s darkest inquiries into authentic selfhood and idiosyncratic queer identity.
