About Alex

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Born in 1987, I am currently primarily based in Florence, Italy. My background is originally in chemistry, having graduated in 2009 with a Master's degree and spent the subsequent 13 years working as a Scientist in the Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology sectors. I only really picked up a paintbrush for the first time in 2019 and have been hooked ever since. 

I work primarily on location, or “en plein air”, and so most of my paintings take inspiration from the world around me, currently Florence, but also Oxfordshire, England where I lived for large parts of my life. Most of my work so far has been focused on capturing the beauty/mood of a certain location and time of day; I am equally at home in any weather condition and enjoy trying to capture the effect of different light conditions on tone and colour. I am committed to painting on location as much as possible as I believe it is impossible to fully understand the subject or to truly capture the essence of a location and time of day otherwise.

My work is largely rooted in traditional landscape painting but with some more contemporary elements to it. I have been influenced by a number of greats including Levitan, Seago and Turner, as well as some contemporary neo-impressionist painters such as Bato Dugarzhapov and Jove Wang, whose work have increased my appreciation for abstract design, rhythm and suggestion in paintings. My current work is still largely representational but I prefer to try and use brushwork and suggestion rather than trying to render things in a huge amount of detail, as I believe this creates paintings that are more interesting to look at. Even still my work can vary from quite quick, loose studies to slightly more refined paintings which I have built up over a few sessions on location.

Awards

  • “Highly Commended” for my painting of the Choir interior at Gloucester Cathedral during the Art in the City Plein Air competition in Gloucester. (2022)
  • Longlisted for the Jackson’s Painting Prize. (2022)

Previous Exhibitions

  • Royal Institute of Oil Painters Annual Exhibition 2022, Mall Galleries, London
  • Art in the City winners exhibition, Gloucester Brewery. 2022
  • The Jam Factory, Open Exhibition, Oxford (2022)
  • Broadway Arts Festival, open exhibition (2022)
  • West Ox arts, Group show , Oxfordshire (2022)
  • The Jam Factory, Group show, Oxford (2022)
  • Oxfordshire Artweeks Solo Exhibition, Witney (2022)

Training

  • Florence Classical Arts Academy