ALEX YOUNG
Latex Spray Paint on Canvas. 5 x 4 Foot 2010
A rising star of the UK Outsider Art movement, Alex Young is capturing the attention from collectors and galleries on an international level. Succeeding his hugely successful debut show ‘Exhibitionism’ at the Grenade Gallery in 2008, and his most recent exhibition with London Miles Gallery in April 2010, Young’s new body of work has set to expand his artistic and conceptual horizons to even loftier new heights. Traversing the boundaries of Fine Art, Illustration, and Graffiti, Young revels in his inability to be pigeonholed. Finding inspiration in the work of both Classical and Contemporary Art masters, as well as various cannons of popular culture, his finely detailed pointillist style portraits are a trademark of his studio work. Rendered predominantly in spray paint, Young’s primary medium of choice points to years of dedication to bombing the streets as a writer – an endeavor committed to alongside years of formal art training. Keeping separate his Graffiti and Fine Art guises, Alex Young, the artist, draws upon the similarly rich dichotomy’s evident in other pseudonymous individuals. His subjects include a burlesque dancer, S&M model, and heavy metal guitarist to name but three, whose alternate identities are all revealed through the fine illustrative detail and multi-layered symbolism evident, on closer inspection, within his monolithic portraits. Essentially, Young is reaffirming the age-old adage that one shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover; in turn condemning the widespread societal prejudice exhibited towards these individuals. A graduate of Kent Institute, and recognized as one of the UK’s top 60 most talented University leavers by Creative Review magazine in 2002, Young resided in Brighton for seven years, working predominantly as a freelance illustrator, before relocating to South London in early 2010, where he currently lives and works. In contrast to his gallery work, his heavily stylized illustrations are primarily informed by the D.I.Y, sub-cultural paradigms of skateboarding, punk, and comic book culture of the mid-to-late-80’s. Instantly gratifying and provocative, these works display Young’s quintessential Outsider art credentials. Speaking to him in-depth about his experiences and inspirations, it’s clear that Young is an artist continually co-opting the multitude of influences that play upon his mind. Ahead of his second solo exhibition this spring, he talks with great enthusiasm for everything from Close and Kandinksy to calligraphy and comics, giving an up close and personal insight into the foundation for his new show, and his wider artistic endeavors to date.