Lives & Works in London, UK
Alexander Heaton. This young English artist is replete with ideas; he meticulously studies and researches his themes. He walks and climbs in the remotest places to cast an eye on his artistic prey – a lonely figure lured by mountains, Alpine skies and forbidding ravines. Through his canvases Heaton continues on the true Romantic journey, but in a very 21st-century way spikes his landscapes with symbolic references to ancient lost civilisations, mythology and the occult - in the sense of beyond everyday human understanding. These are his interests.
Engaging with rugged nature is also the driving force of his discipline, and this rigorous approach informs his stylish, distinctive and ever so slightly quirky takes on philosophy and the physical world. Heaton open-handedly shares his highly personal and quixotic notions of The Romantic with his audience. He enjoys playing with our expectations of landscape and fauna, and his powerful use of colour, shape and composition, linked with his depiction of mysterious symbols and ciphers, makes for memorable artworks. His accomplished oil painting technique suggests echoes of a bygone era in its detailed rendering of nature's own challenging compositions and potent atmosphere.
Is Alexander Heaton's work complex and sometimes puzzling? Yes, indeed. But his canvases are often deeply rewarding, visually stunning, and clearly executed with a sure hand.
Larry McGinity
London, November 2011
Larry McGinity is a writer on art history, specialising in early modern art movements, and an artist in his own right. He contributed the early modern sections of Dorling Kindersley's
ART – the definitive visual guide, named The Sunday Times Art Book of The Year in 2008. Most recently he was the editorial co-leader on Thames & Hudson's flagship volume, Art – The Whole Story published in 2010. He has also written on art history for young people.
Education
Central Saint Martins School of Fine Art BA (Hons) Fine Art.
Cleveland College of Art and Design BTEC Diploma Foundation Studies.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011 The Secret of the Runes - Pulse Art Fair, Miami.
2011 Trebuchet - The Residence Gallery, London.
2010 Abyssal Wolpertinger - Medcalf Gallery, London.
2009 Harz – Clarke Gallery, Berlin.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2011 Wunderkammer, Clarke Gallery, Bermingham.
2010 The Future Can Wait, Ellis Rumley Projects, London.
2010 Happiness Machines, Rise Gallery, Berlin.
2009 Perfect Present, Stable Productions, 242 Gallery, London.
2009 The London Art Fair, Contemporary Art Projects, Islington.
2008 Salon 08 Matt Roberts Fine Art, Vine Space, Vyner Street, London.
2008 The Damned and the Saved, Stand point Gallery, London.
Publications
Bant Magazine - 2011 Turkeys premier Art Monthly.
The Sunday Times Magazine – February 2008 Article covering my work in a show at Empire Gallery
Amelia’s Magazine - Article covering the solo show, The Horn that Matters, fully illustrated.
Previous Residencies and Commissions
Rahel Aslam – Dubai, UAE Mural Painting
The Muse Gallery Portobello Road, London
Commissions and large scale projects can be requested and all applications should be submitted to:
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