Collection:
Alex Livingston
Alex Livingston
Alex Livingston’s 2017 series FLOWERS and 2019 series DEER expand on themes from his earlier paintings: flower and botanical motifs; early zoological study and systems of classification; dualities of representation and abstraction, natural and human made, “naturalia” and artificialia”; and reference to specific art historical sources and styles. Whereas Livingston’s oil paintings of the 1980s and 1990s referenced Celtic illumination, botanical illustration and 17th century woodcuts, his digitally generated works have explored the creation of expansive, looping doodle-like painting gestures, other-worldly floral still-lives and most recently, diorama inspired deer inhabited landscapes.
Livingston’s deer paintings continue to develop his ongoing focus on the intersections between the natural and digital realms. The portrayal of deer in treed landscapes link to his research on the history of natural history dioramas. These dioramas create an intriguing tension between the fabricated and the real. Taxidermy animals are presented within skillful recreations of their natural habitats, displayed against painted curved backdrops suggesting vast recessive spaces through systems of false perspective. Within the diorama the artificial and the real collapse together to fashion a credible illusion.
Livingston’s deer paintings echo these same tensions between the actual and fabricated with a digital trompe l’oeil illusionism of paint marks, textures and references to print processes and photography. Multiple pictorial strategies join together to create a unique visual experience and to express the inventiveness and intelligence of nature.
Born in Kingston, Ontario, Alex Livingston received a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and an MA Fine Arts from the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, England. In 2005, Livingston began a shift from his 25 year long engagement with oil on canvas painting toward digital explorations of the medium — partly due to environmental sensitivities to paint solvents, and partly due to the allure of new frontiers for image making. Livingston has exhibited his paintings in many solo and group exhibitions in public and commercial galleries across Canada and internationally in England, Scotland, Germany, South Korea, China and the United States. His work is in numerous private, corporate and public collections.
Livingston’s deer paintings continue to develop his ongoing focus on the intersections between the natural and digital realms. The portrayal of deer in treed landscapes link to his research on the history of natural history dioramas. These dioramas create an intriguing tension between the fabricated and the real. Taxidermy animals are presented within skillful recreations of their natural habitats, displayed against painted curved backdrops suggesting vast recessive spaces through systems of false perspective. Within the diorama the artificial and the real collapse together to fashion a credible illusion.
Livingston’s deer paintings echo these same tensions between the actual and fabricated with a digital trompe l’oeil illusionism of paint marks, textures and references to print processes and photography. Multiple pictorial strategies join together to create a unique visual experience and to express the inventiveness and intelligence of nature.
Born in Kingston, Ontario, Alex Livingston received a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and an MA Fine Arts from the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, England. In 2005, Livingston began a shift from his 25 year long engagement with oil on canvas painting toward digital explorations of the medium — partly due to environmental sensitivities to paint solvents, and partly due to the allure of new frontiers for image making. Livingston has exhibited his paintings in many solo and group exhibitions in public and commercial galleries across Canada and internationally in England, Scotland, Germany, South Korea, China and the United States. His work is in numerous private, corporate and public collections.