Alex Hartley studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in London (1983-1987) and at the Royal College of Art (1988-1990). Since the 1990s, he has focused his art on understanding utopian ideologies through modern architecture and its impact on the landscape and society, drawing on photography, film, sculpture, architectural installations and works in progress. Hartley uses his projects – with concepts inherited from land art – to reflect on how humanity intervenes in nature and how it should occupy it. He destabilises the documentary nature of photography to display our notions of utopia and our critical relationships with the environment. This can be seen in his series Built Photographs (2005-2011), where modern architecture confronts wild landscapes, or in his project Nowhereisland (2012) where he creates a nation in the form of a floating island to reflect on our critical relationship with the environment.
Hartley took part in the travelling exhibition ‘Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection’ at the Royal Academy of Arts (London, 1997), the Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin, 1998) and the Brooklyn Museum (New York, 1999). He has also held numerous solo shows at Europe’s leading art galleries. In the year 2000 he won the Sculpture Prize at Goodwood ART2000 and in 2012 he participated with Nowhereisland at the ‘Artists Taking the Lead’ cultural events organised by the Cultural Olympics Committee.
Alex Hartley studied at the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts in London (1983-1987) and at the Royal College of Art (1988-1990). Since the 1990s, he has focused his art on understanding utopian ideologies through modern architecture and its impact on the landscape and society, drawing on photography, film, sculpture, architectural installations and works in progress. Hartley uses his projects – with concepts inherited from land art – to reflect on how humanity intervenes in nature and how it should occupy it. He destabilises the documentary nature of photography to display our notions of utopia and our critical relationships with the environment. This can be seen in his series Built Photographs (2005-2011), where modern architecture confronts wild landscapes, or in his project Nowhereisland (2012) where he creates a nation in the form of a floating island to reflect on our critical relationship with the environment.
Hartley took part in the travelling exhibition ‘Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection’ at the Royal Academy of Arts (London, 1997), the Hamburger Bahnhof (Berlin, 1998) and the Brooklyn Museum (New York, 1999). He has also held numerous solo shows at Europe’s leading art galleries. In the year 2000 he won the Sculpture Prize at Goodwood ART2000 and in 2012 he participated with Nowhereisland at the ‘Artists Taking the Lead’ cultural events organised by the Cultural Olympics Committee.