Friday, October 14, 2011

Modern Day Magic - The Work of Alexander Wells

Contemporary art, huzzah!
Alexander Wells is a 29 year old illustrator trying to make a living in the sea side town of Brighton, England. Apparently he's also a model, but we won't get into that.
Alexander attended the University of Westminster in London, and uses both traditional and digital mediums in creating images, which allows him to tackle a diverse range of briefs. 

His work seems to express the concept of imagination, and some of his work illustrates modern twists on well-known fairy tales.












Aren't they wonderful?
I think so too.

I'm really quite fond of the way Wells seems to block out reality in order to express a more imaginative side. He tends to stick to darker colors, hues, and values, but I think that works because it shows how boring reality actually is. His lines are always very smooth and they flow freely because there's almost always something "moving" in his art, such as the wind blowing a grassy meadow, or the waves in an ocean. The proportions seem to be odd in his work, but it fits perfectly. The biggest and most prominent parts of his work are often the things that he is trying to distort in some way, shape, or form. The second to last image, for example. A ship in the bottle is obviously not that large, but it makes you think about the inner workings of the mind & how people perceive things. There is most definitely contrast in his work, not only in color, but also in images. Take a look at the second piece. Black and white contrast, of course, but the actual piece as a whole does as well. Something incredibly small, joyful, and "safe" is flying around space, of of the most terrifying and unknown places known to man. You don't see that everyday.

Overall, I think Alexander Wells is a very promising artist. I can say without a doubt that I have fallen in love with his work, ideas, & style of art, and I look forward to more of him in the future. 

(Also, there's actually a blog right here dedicated to Wells and his work. Go look at it now.)
http://wellsillustration.blogspot.com/

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