Alex Gardner & the “Romanticization of Life."
“I’m Interested in the entire spectrum of human emotion. I like the romanticization of life.”
— ALEX GARDNER
(JUXTAPOZ MAGAZINE)If you’ve had the chance to visit the Curator’s Collection, you may have noticed the artwork is faceless, leaving room for the placement of the bodies and their surroundings to tell the story of what is being conveyed.
Perhaps that’s why I was drawn to the work of Alex Gardner, as the art is full of expression through the somewhat dramatized structure of the black figures, layered in a graceful and powerful form. These figures are then surrounded by soft pastel hues in its backdrops and apparel to complement the imagery. To me, it appears almost dreamlike (if it were in motion, I’d imagine I’d be in somewhat of a daze), even if his work was never intentionally created this way.
Alex Gardner (untitled).
“All my subject matter is based on real life, I’m not trying to access the subconscious or the unconscious dream state.”
ANOTHERMAG.COMLike many artists, Alex Gardner pulls his inspiration from real life experiences and those he encounters. In a 2016 sit-down with juxtapoz.com, he states “everyone I encounter ends up in my paintings. No one is safe.”
After looking into a few of his interviews, you would gather that he naturally has a bit of an esoteric persona, and his work follows suit, leaving room for interpretation.
INFLUENTIAL
As light, airy and surreal as Gardner’s work may appear to be, the Crowns & Owls collective teamed up with Kim Howells, the fashion director for Hunger Magazine with their own interpretation.
In 2018 they brought the artist’s work to life in Escalator, a series for Hunger Magazine’s fifteenth biannual futuristic issue. This to me is the epitome of art imitating life, and life imitating art. Even with models being used to emulate Gardner’s paintings, the photographs are very much dreamlike and surreal.
A side-by-side of Alex Gardner x Crowns & Owls.
The work of Alex Gardner confirms whatever you go through, experience and encounter can be expressed through whatever your creative outlet may be. Regardless of the subject matter, you can pull inspiration from the moment and recreate its likeness, and interpret that emotion into a beautiful piece of artwork. Someone else can feel an entirely different emotion, without sharing that same experience, and with little to no context of the initial subject matter. It can in turn be just as meaningful for them.
ALEX GARDNER x CROWNS & OWLS
FOR A FULL LIST OF CREDITS FOR THE CROWNS & OWLS X ALEX GARDNER IMAGES VISITHUNGERTV.COM