Giles Alexander

\ Represented by Nanda\Hobbs Contemporary at Sydney Contemporary 2017

Born 1975, UK
Lives and works in Sydney

Artist's CV

Giles Alexander probes space for meaning.

Giles Alexander’s work belongs to a long-standing academic tradition of virtuously handled oil paint and precise draughtsmanship, yet he stands aside from this, quite purposefully drawing attention to moments where he departs from tradition. This is not wilful contrariness: Alexander uses and refuses his polished aesthetic as another way of interrogating his world, provocatively challenging the established ‘norm’ and questioning all that we hold dear.

There is a visual pun in his paintings, turning on space as a crucial component of all painting and space, the final frontier. Alexander has always focused his attentions on real and imagined space, often drawing our attention to the shifting boundaries between the two. By suspending painstakingly created figurative elements within optically deep, resined backgrounds the artist successfully conjures an alternative space in the picture plane, generating ambiguity and mystery.

Journeying through fine layers of paint the viewer notices a deep, mirror-like resin veils the image. A paradox of space and surface arises through awareness both of infinite depth and the presence of one’s own reflection.

Religious buildings are designed to lead us in, amplify our sense of experience and heighten belief. Alexander’s paintings operate on the same principle, drawing us in and urging us to go deeper into the architecture of the universe.

Alexander’s faultless execution pays homage to the master masons and artisans of religious antiquity. Ultimately the work questions exactly what it is we are worshiping. 

‘While there are a great many artists with the patience and physical skills to create beautiful detailed realist paintings, there are very few I consider to be “post modern”, contemporary and history making. In fifty years I have essentially found 10 artists a decade, or one a year on average, who have, as they say “caught my eye”. Giles Alexander is the most recent one.’ 
Louis K. Meisel – April, 2018 (American author, art dealer and proponent of the photorealist art movement, having coined the term in 1969.)

September 2019 will see Alexander’s first opportunity to present a major body of work to a US audienceat Louis K. Meisel Gallery in New York. The exhibition, titled Eternally: Far Away, So Close, will consider various historical constructs of the history of (wo)man and how they have come to define the way we see ourselves, view our world, and our place within the grander scheme.

 

\ Artworks

Cosmological Chimera

2013 \ Oil, ink and resin on aluminium \ 105x65cm

Eccentric Action Painting 1

2018 \ Oil and resin on rotating aluminium \ 100 x 100cm

SOLD

Eccentric Action Painting 5

2018 \ Oil and resin on rotating aluminium panel \ 75x75cm

Eccentric Action Painting 8

2018 \ Oil and resin on rotating aluminium panel \ 75x75cm

Landscape Painting 12

2017 \ Oil and resin on aluminium \ 180x170cm

SOLD

Landscape Painting 13

2018 \ Oil and resin on aluminium \ 180 x 170cm

SOLD

Masking Mortality

2013 \ Oil and resin on polyester \ 105x65x10cm

SOLD

Syzygy 2

2018 \ Spinning diptych \ Oil, pigment and resin on aluminium \ 60 x 60cm

SOLD

Talbot Fossil

2016 \ Oil and resin on board \ 20x25cm

\ Allegory for a Sentinal Species

2017 \ Oil on raw linen \ 170 x 300cm

SOLD permanent collection, Bond University, QLD

\ Chrysler Fossil

2016 \ Oil and resin on board \ 24x30cm

\ Folly Expired

2017 \ Oil on raw linen \ 132 x 244cm

SOLD

\ Gullwing Fossil

2016 \ Oil and resin on board \ 30x24cm

SOLD

\ News

NH Event

Visit Nanda\Hobbs at Sydney Contemporary Stand D05

30 August 2018

Nanda\Hobbs is exhibiting four outstanding artists at Sydney Contemporary, 13-16 September at Carriageworks...Giles Alexander, Jonathan Dalton, Dianne Gall and Stuart McLachlan. Visit us at Stand D05.

Read more

\ Exhibitions featuring Giles Alexander

Landscape Obscura

Group Exhibition

21 February — 9 March 2019

Summer Show

Group Exhibition

5 December — 22 December 2018

Sydney Contemporary Stand D05

Giles Alexander, Dianne Gall, Jonathan Dalton & Stuart McLachlan

13 September — 16 September 2018

Spring Collector Exhibition

Group Exhibition

11 September — 6 October 2018

Giles Alexander

Turtles All the Way Down

23 May — 9 June 2018

Summer Exhibition

Group Exhibition

6 December 2017 — 20 January 2018

Giles Alexander

Fossil

12 May — 31 May 2016

Sydney Contemporary

Giles Alexander, Louis Pratt, Robert Doble & The Connor Brothers

10 September — 13 September 2015

Brave New World

Group Exhibition

18 August — 28 August 2015

Giles Alexander

Bruno's Dream

13 February — 14 April 2014

Contact Us

to find out more about Giles Alexander.

12 - 14 Meagher Street Chippendale, NSW 2008
Opening Hours
Monday to Friday, 9.00am - 5.30pm Saturday, 11am - 4pm