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SAKS presents the first solo show in Switzerland of New York artist Evan Gruzis : Rough Boy.
 
Visually striking, Evan Gruzis' ink paintings on paper demonstrate a virtuosic use of the fluidity of the medium in creating seemingly-photographic black and white visions.
 
Gruzis stages the visual vernacular of pop culture he filters through a dystopian Los Angeles aesthetic.  Revisiting "California cool" and dark New Wave themes – palm trees, sunsets, wayfarer sunglasses, digital clocks and prescription drugs – alongside art historical motifs such as still-life and abstract compositions, Gruzis opens to the viewer the panorama of an imagery sprung from kitsch loaded Hollywood beauty in an atmosphere reminiscent of 1980s.
 
The artist dramatizes the content of his images through the use of light effects, thinking and almost sculpting his compositions in terms of contrasts.  White and black areas separate and merge into achromatic gradations which serve as background for the subject, as well as becoming subject themselves.
 
Extreme technical control combined to this vacuity in the choice of subject matter, result in new clichés tinged with satire.
 
Beyond "aesthetic for aesthetic's sake", the real content of Evan Gruzis' work is  'looking at looking' : the view of the artist is superimposed on the vantage of the viewer, a living "mise en abîme" in which the viewer's gaze is seduced while experiencing the fear of the absence of meaning.