Artists
Alex Parnassus
Alex Parnassus is a contemporary visual artist whose work explores the tension between nostalgia and futurism through a modern, intuitive lens. Drawing from digital culture, industrial design, and early internet aesthetics, his practice reimagines familiar forms as polished, reflective objects that sit somewhere between memory and possibility. His work feels instantly recognizable but hard to place in time, like a future imagined years ago.
At the core of Parnassus’s practice is his signature retro-wave chrome style. Sleek metallic surfaces are rendered with high contrast and careful precision. Chrome plays a central role, not as decoration, but as a visual language. Its mirror-like finish recalls the optimism of late-20th-century futurism, when technology was associated with elegance, progress, and escape. At the same time, it quietly questions those ideas in today’s hyper-digital world. The surfaces attract and reflect, but they also create distance, pulling the viewer into the image while keeping it just out of reach.
Nostalgia runs through the work in a subtle but powerful way. Many pieces feel like they could belong in a vintage magazine ad, the kind that once promised a perfect future through design and desire. This reference to printed imagery and cultural memory ties closely to Y2K futurism, with its smooth chrome finishes, dramatic lighting, and glossy sense of possibility. There is a strong feeling of glamour here, but it is controlled and intentional rather than loud.
The result is work that feels cool yet emotional, refined yet deeply human. Parnassus uses chrome to give form to longing, memory, and fantasy, turning nostalgia into something tangible. Each piece exists at the intersection of design, pop culture, and imagination, where the past and future reflect back at each other.