Alex Lukas’ idea of the end of the world, or the heavily built up part of it, doesn’t look all that bad. True, his cities are underwater, with high tides pooling around the tops of high rises, but he lets us peer beneath the surface, and everything is pretty as ever. His message is clear: End-of-days flooding can’t stop America! (He doesn’t mean this at all, of course.) The title of his solo show, "And Another Shall Rise and Take Her Place,” also figures a fair postapocalypse existence after some unnamed catastrophe halts business hours forever — here, that catastrophe appears to be global warming, due to all the water, but you should never rule out a solar flare. His work is compelling, using a mix of silkscreen, ink, watercolor, acrylic, gouache, and spray paint, sometimes in the same piece. Though his pieces are untitled and his cities unnamed, you can’t help but notice the top of the Transamerica Building poking out of a grey expanse, a bloody explosion over its shoulder. He saved the darkest vision for us.
March 14-April 3, 2009
