Giles Alexander

Australian, b. 1975

Artist Statement

In my practice, along with figurative clarity, I am compelled by what cannot be seen, or can be seen only with the help of technology. I explore these ideas through colour, luminescence, gradient, mark making, focus, rotation, geometry and the spatial ambiguities that shiny and transparent surfaces create, such as void, perspective, reflection and refraction.

Giles Alexander has centred his art practice around a powerful visual discourse about belonging. He asks us “what does it mean, and how do we find a sense of belonging in a city, in a country, in the world, indeed in the universe”? Alexander’s humanist investigations have followed many aesthetic paths over the years, with a hallmark of profound technical prowess. The artist is aware that these questions have preoccupied humanity since we encountered the power of thought.

Alexander’s planetary work is well documented through major exhibitions in London, Sydney and Singapore. Alexander is a multiple art prize finalist including, the Archibald Prize (2010, 2011, 2013), Sulman Prize (2013), Moran Prize (2012, 2016) and Blake Prize (2006, 2013). In recent years international private collectors from exhibitions in Sydney, London, Singapore and New York have acquired his work. Work by Alexander is also held in public collections including; London Guildhall Art Gallery, Bond University, ANU, Gold Coast Gallery, Tweed river Gallery, Artbank and MCQ International.

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.)

View artist CV here

View exhibition catalogue here

View artist interview here

Experience the work here