Los Angeles-based artist Alex Gardner makes captivating, large-scale paintings depicting Black androgynous figures interacting with one another, and the austere interior spaces they inhabit amidst his imagined landscapes, with a choreographed fluidity. His colour palette is minimal, usually comprising of black, blue, pink, white and green, while his style is at once naturalistic and surreal. Gardner’s aim, he has said, is to evoke certain atmospheres and emotions through his paintings, often centring on ideas of identity, ethics, anxiety or desire. And his command of mood-setting is tangible—as this perfect pair of Sunday-summoning loungers confirms.
