Details:
① Artwork:
Kissing
Like all of the artworks in this series, this painting utilizes a combination of ink and oil paint on canvas. The image—taken from an amateur photograph—has been reduced and stylized through the artist's process, giving it a universal meaning.
For his paintings, Allan Gardner works from photographs taken before or around the advent of digital photography. The images come from early college projects, boudoir photography classes, nightclubs and amateur modeling shoots—naive attempts at representations of friendship, love, lust and youth. Gardner aims to capture this sense of love, reckless abandon, certainty and authentic self-imposition in his art.
Specs:
③ Artist:
For his work, Allan Gardner sources self-shot and amateur photographs that were taken before or around the advent of digital photography. The images come from early college projects, boudoir photography classes, nightclubs, and amateur modeling shoots—naive attempts at representations of friendship, love, lust and youth. Gardner aims to capture this sense of love, reckless abandon, certainty and authentic self-imposition in his art.
Allan Gardner is a Scottish artist based in Leeds, UK. He earned his BFA in Painting from Leeds College of Art (2018) and his MA in Contemporary Art Practice from the Royal College of Art (2020).
He has mounted solo or duo exhibitions at Village in Leeds, UK (2020); Bloc Projects in Sheffield, UK (2020); Tennis Project Space in Berlin, Germany (2016); and Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow, UK (2016).
Gardner has also been featured in group exhibitions such as [the art happens here] at Annka Kultys Gallery in London, UK (2020); A Land of Incomparable Beauty at Collectiv Ending in London, UK (2020); WIP at the Royal College of Art in London, UK (2019); BITE at Dyson Gallery in London, UK (2019); and Velvet Ropes at Sargent’s Daughters in New York City, NY (2019).
His work has been written about in Curatorial Affairs (2022); Floorr Magazine (2022); Sleek (2021); The Face (2021); and Young Artists in Conversation (2020).
