Alex Gardner’s Radiant Paintings Celebrate Human Strength

In December 2023, Alex Gardner emptied his Los Angeles studio for his solo exhibition “Good Luck” at X Museum in Beijing. This exhibition explored the delicate balance between hope and despair in contemporary society through a series of large-scale acrylic paintings. Embracing the new beginning of an empty studio in January, Gardner leaned into the sanguine perspective for his new body of work: one that appreciates our “mental, spiritual endurance,” as he put it.

This invigorated sense of optimism is on view in Gardner’s “Psychic Stamina” at Perrotin, his first show with the gallery, in New York until July 26th. A BFA graduate of California State University, Long Beach, Gardner is earning a reputation for his ethereal acrylic paintings, featuring pitch-black faceless figures that radiate within luminous, vaguely defined color fields. By emphasizing this emotional stamina, his new works celebrate the strength of human connection in a world fraught with societal turmoil.

“After having a kid, I’m more empathetic than ever,” Gardner told Artsy in his studio earlier this year. Now 36, Gardner finds that fatherhood has made him acutely aware of his responsibility to nurture his one-year-old son’s bright-eyed outlook in an increasingly turbulent world. The realities of parenthood have pushed him to move beyond the cynicism that defined his 20s and have lent his art a renewed sense of hope. “His existence is an embodiment of optimism…my job is to not take away his optimism,” he added.

During his own childhood, the Los Angeles–born artist fostered his love for painting and drawing with a vendetta: an enduring distaste for a David Hockney poster in his mother’s house—an Italian piazza print that is burned into his memory. As an only child, however, Gardner made drawing his preferred pastime. “I liked hiding in a room, making it, and then just having this one moment of vulnerability,” he said.

Though uninspired by the “crude” Hockney (an artist he said he otherwise admires), Gardner would frequent local museums, such as LACMA and MOCA in Los Angeles, where he honed his obsession with more technically challenging works. “I was like a technical nerd, and I loved classical Italian paintings, where the technical ability [is] to capture, replicate, and create a scene that looks real, like it actually exists,” Gardner said.

With “Psychic Stamina,” Gardner’s technical ability is evident, not because he creates hyperrealistic scenes, but rather because of his scrupulous approach to production, where one painting can take weeks to complete. “I paint very slow, controlled, and meticulous, but that’s my way of trying to have a sense of control…in life,” Gardner said. His glowing, decontextualized figures are rendered in bright acrylic paints with care and precision. These figures, as seen in No Prenup For The Thrill (2024), are shown embracing one another against ethereal backgrounds that often evoke blue skies, creating a serene yet intimate atmosphere.

This intimate moment of connection is a recurring motif in Gardner’s work, where entwined figures convey both comfort and vulnerability. For example, in All I trust is my trust fund (2024), an adult figure holds a child dressed in coral-colored clothing, capturing the emotional strength and fragility that define both Gardner’s exploration of human connection and his own experience as a father.

Rather than relying on photos, Gardner takes mental notes or writes down phrases or ideas collected throughout the day. These memos are then translated into his acrylic paintings, where he attempts to capture their essence. Though Gardner’s works are often described as surrealist, he doesn’t define his work that way. “I’m more of an observer and strive to be an objective truth teller,” he said.