Alex Hartley is a UK based artist whose work explores our understanding of utopian ideologies. His early work focused on the white cube of the gallery space; testing the parameters of art’s containers. This has expanded to explore iconic modernist architectural forms, as the work considers buildings as social experiments manifested in both the built and natural environments.
His practice is wide ranging, comprising wall-based sculptural photographic compositions, film-making, climbing, artist publications, room-sized architectural installations and it often involves travelling to remote places. More recently he has taken his work into the public realm expanding the context for his work with ambitious works of land-art, employing his practice to test and expand our notions of utopia, the individual, and the critical relationship we have with the environment.
Hartley has recently participated in Folkestone Triennial 2014 and undertaken a residency with the National Trust for Scotland (2013); he has exhibited at venues including the Contemporary Arts Centre, Ohio, US (2014); Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark (2013); Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester (2012); Fundación Canal, Madrid (2008); Leeds Metropolitan Gallery, Leeds (2008, solo); and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (2007, solo). Since 1997 Hartley has been engaged in collaborative site-specific projects with architects including David Adjaye Associates and Alford, Hall, Monaghan and Morris.
In 2015 he was awarded the COAL prize Art and Environment, and the Arts Foundation Award Art in the Elements.
Hartley is represented by the Victoria Miro Gallery, UK