Alec Egan’s oil paintings of quiet, cockeyed scenes lead viewers to the razor’s edge of idylls. Saturated sunsets, crashing waves, or clean bright bedrooms are subtly askew and hauntingly deserted; human narrative is inserted through architectural elements such as windows, apartment buildings, or parking lots. Egan’s approach to beauty is expressed through conflicting and layered wallpapers, fabrics, flowers, and foodstuffs; the clash is surreal and psychological. Despite the mundane status of his subjects—from waxy oranges resting on a windowsill to a discarded sock on the floor, Egan’s humdrum daily settings are a colorful feast of dense pattern and thick impasto, whose mysteries yield through prolonged looking.

Alec Egan (b. 1984, Los Angeles, CA) completed his MFA at Otis College of Art and Design in 2013, and received a BFA in creative writing and poetry from Kenyon College. Recent solo exhibitions include Drawing Room at Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, VT; Blue Setting, Charles Moffett, New York, NY; Look Out, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; and Miro’s Corner, MAKI Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. His work has also been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions at Almine Rech, Paris, France; Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, IA; California Heritage Museum, Santa Monica, CA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrance. His works are in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami. Egan lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.