Roe Ethridge Interrogates the Power of Images in ‘Happy Birthday Louise Parker II'

American artist Roe Ethridge is presenting the next chapter in his Happy Birthday Louise Parker exhibition. A selection of works will be shown at Gagosian‘s Gstaad location, as part II continues Ethridge’s interrogation into the circulation of images, conflating the worlds of commercial photography and fine art to understand the visual vernacular that dictate consumer behavior.

Researchers estimate that social media users are exposed to up to 10,000 ads per day — a dizzying number of logos, settings and people carefully positioned to sell you a product or idea. Ethridge dismantles how these widely replicated images shape perceptions and experiences by mixing his graphic portraiture and still lifes with sublimation dying processes, resulting in cinematic photographs and abstracted product shots that reflect the “unexpected connections [that] are forged between the aesthetic codes of fashion,” wrote Gagosian, “and the differently complex visual intersections of everyday life.”

Andy Warhol is cited as a big influence for Ethridge, who had explored the threshold between the commercial and the conceptual back in the ’60s and ’70s. Ethridge understood early on about the power of images, noting in a past interview: “It’s a thing where one image could slide from one context to another. If it didn’t have a caption, if it wasn’t historically contained, it could do multiple things.”

Happy Birthday Louise Parker II will be on view at Gagosian’s Gstaad location in Switzerland until September 8, 2024.

Gagosian
Promenade 79,
3780 Gstaad, Switzerland