Alexander James (b. 1993, London) lives and works in London. He studied illustration at Camberwell College of Arts, graduating in 2015, and works across painting, sculpture, video and installation. His recent paintings are built in layers from his own family archive, letters, photographs and found memorabilia, with portraiture surfacing and then dissolving into abstraction. A recurring subject is his great-grandfather, whose profile he paints in warm tones and scrapes back until it turns into something else.
Solo exhibitions include Tuck Shop for the Wicked at Marlborough, London (2023), Keep It In The Family at THEFOURTH, Cape Town (2021), and Dancing on Lava In A Moment of Decadence and Look What The Cat Dragged In, both at Roman Road, London (2020). In 2020 he curated One More Slope at Elms Lesters Painting Rooms in collaboration with the British Fashion Council. His work is held in private collections in Los Angeles and New York.
James took part in the group exhibition Tutti Frutti 2 at Plan X Capri in 2023.
