Isopropyl Alcohol, Atarax (1,256 Carbon Monoxide Detectors) by Jack Gross

An Artists from Maryland micro-collection

Jack Gross’ latest project, Isopropyl Alcohol, Atarax (1,256 Carbon Monoxide Detectors), is more proof that he is a force to be reckoned with in the artistic practice of abstraction. Narrators so scarily human are the undercurrent of this collection, grounding his blazing abstractions into scarring embers. When Gross writes “This is an empty being, an empty house,” you cannot fully believe him. Alongside the various voices of this collection, you discover whole worlds and people.

“In distorted dream sequences and accumulating flashes of memories, Jack Gross explores how truth and meaning clutter and bind the space between people. Throughout Isopropyl Alcohol, Atarax (1,256 Carbon Monoxide Detectors), images appear, visceral and distinct, then are lost as the reader’s understanding dissolves, ‘[b]ecomes static becomes nothing,’ constantly metamorphosing and contradicting itself, deftly hiding its own context. This collection invites readers to draw their own conclusions and map their own connection to the grounded and realistic characters that blur in and out sight.”

—Haley Bossé, author of Aurora Comes Online (Game Over Books)