Alex Hartley is primarily known for his glass encased photographs of gallery spaces, tower blocks and fictional architectural constructions. In this exhibition he pursues his dialogue with iconic modernist architecture. The centre piece of the exhibition is Case Study, which is Hartley's most ambitious work to date. This monumental installation takes a nine-meter slice through a steel and glass building and is based on the houses of the Californian Case Study Programme started in 1945. Encased in a giant wedge shaped frame of etched glass that inhibits our view Hartley has created a disorientating fictional space which both perplexes and seduces the viewer. The exhibition also includes Randomised Double Blind, a vibrantly coloured series of polished acrylic blocks which give the illusion of containing more space than their volume allows.
Selected Images
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Exhibition
Posted
October 19 2024
Now on view: Alex Hartley’s new commission for the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter
The work is on view as part of Dartmoor: A Radical Landscape, a major group exhibition (19 October 2024–23 February 2025) exploring the region's evocative landscape through photography, film, and Land Art. Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 11 2024
Alex Hartley features in Decennium at Hestercombe Gallery
On view 23 March–7 July 2024, the exhibition celebrates ten years of Hestercombe Gallery and reflects on a decade of making and showing through the work of over twenty artists. Taunton, Somerset -
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Interview
Posted
May 10 2023
Alex Hartley talks to Wallpaper* about his new exhibition Closer Than Before
‘I always hope I can surprise people and then drive people from one work to another to try and forge connections…’ Thea Hawlin, Wallpaper* -
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Exhibition
Posted
August 10 2022
Alex Hartley features in Watou 2022: Sense of Place
On view until 4 September 2022, Hartley's Watou Grow Room is an abandoned ‘grow house’ in a former café in Watou. The installation shows the waste and technical paraphernalia of an abandoned cannabis plantation. Although the exact crop is not specified, ‘someone’ here has gone to great lengths to increase production and hide what is going on. Watou, Belgium -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 12 2019
New commissions by Alex Hartley are featured in In Ruins at Witley Court
Presented by Meadow Arts, In Ruins (12 July–3 November 2019) looks at ideas of ruin and decay through installations, sculptures and other work set in Witley Court's historic landscape. Witley Court, Worcestershire -
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Exhibition
Posted
July 10 2019
Alex Hartley features in Where Function Ends: Responses to the Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens
To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Edwin Lutyens, Hestercombe Gallery presents new work by three artists that responds to the legacy of the man whose designs transformed the Hestercombe site (on view: 14 July–27 October 2019). Hestercombe, Somerset -
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Exhibition
Posted
April 12 2019
Alex Hartley is featured in The Other Place at KØS, Denmark
Floating Island is a new work created especially for the exhibition (12 April–15 September 2019) in extension of Hartley's renowned project Nowhereisland. Museum of Art in Public Spaces (KØS), Denmark -
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Gallery Event
Posted
June 12 2018
Artist talk: Alex Hartley
Join Alex Hartley on Saturday 30 June at 1pm for an informal tour of his exhibition, The Houses, at Victoria Miro Mayfair. Victoria Miro Mayfair -
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Exhibition
Posted
September 2 2017
Alex Hartley creates a major new work for Folkestone Triennial 2017
Balanced on the cliff edge, Wall is constructed from steel fencing and weighted with querns that have fallen out of the cliffs (2 September - 5 November 2017). Folkestone, Kent -
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Exhibition
Posted
August 16 2017
Alex Hartley participates in the 2017 Yokohama Triennale
Titled “Islands, Constellations and Galapagos”, the sixth edition of the Triennale (4 August - 5 November 2017) explores ideas of connectivity and isolation. Yokohama, Japan -
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Feature
Posted
July 16 2017
Matt Rudd spends a week living in The Clearing by Alex Hartley and Tom James at Compton Verney
"The dome is real, even if the apocalypse isn’t. It is called the Clearing and it is one of this year’s most ambitious social experiments." Photo: Charlie Clift for the Sunday Times Magazine. Matt Rudd, The Sunday Times -
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News story
Posted
May 30 2017
City AM’s Steve Dinneen spends a week as caretaker at Alex Hartley’s The Clearing
"Constructed from reclaimed metal and timber, it’s like the log cabin from your wildest bucolic fantasy." Steve Dinneen, City AM -
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Interview
Posted
March 23 2017
The Clearing by Alex Hartley and Tom James featured on Front Row
Hartley and James discuss their collaborative artwork for Compton Verney, Warwickshire. BBC Radio 4: Front Row -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 18 2017
The Clearing by Alex Hartley and Tom James at Compton Verney
The Clearing is a vision of the future in the grounds of Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park (18 March - 17 December 2017). Read about the project and sign up for workshops. Compton Verney Art Gallery and Park, Warwickshire -
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Exhibition
Posted
March 10 2017
Alex Hartley in Transparency at Walker Art Gallery
The exhibition (24 March - 18 June 2017) shows how artists in the past and present have used transparent materials, forms and ideas about transparency to explore how we see and experience the world. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool -
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Interview
Posted
November 22 2016
Alex Hartley discusses his new exhibition, and more, on Monocle Radio
Alex Hartley talks to Monocle Radio on the occasion of his new exhibition at Victoria Miro. Monocle Radio -
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Review
Posted
November 22 2016
Alex Hartley exhibition featured in Wallpaper*
The jungle look: artist Alex Hartley conjures a dystopian modernist folly Elly Parsons, Wallpaper* -
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Gallery Exhibition
19 November - 16 December 2016
Alex Hartley: After You Left
An exhibition of new work by the British artist, including a major architectural intervention in the gallery’s waterside garden. Thoughts of modernism and its legacy, as well as Romantic ideas... Victoria Miro Gallery I -
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Interview
Posted
November 18 2016
Alex Hartley talks to AnOther about his new exhibition After Your Left
For his enchanting new installation at London's Victoria Miro Gallery, opening this weekend, artist Alex Hartley has built what appears to be a dilapidated house in the middle of its waterside garden. Billie Muraben, AnOther -
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Interview
Posted
November 18 2016
Alex Hartley discusses his new exhibition After You Left
Hartley discusses his ideas for the exhibition, his approaches to working across various media, new directions, and the enduring influences behind his work. Martin Coomer, Victoria Miro Editorial -
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Interview
Posted
November 16 2016
Alex Hartley interviewed in The Spaces about his new exhibition, After You Left
Ahead of his exhibition at the gallery (19 November - 16 December 2016), Hartley discusses modernist ruins and the battle between the manmade world and the natural environment. Cassie Davies, The Spaces -
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News
Posted
December 7 2011
Alex Hartley: Nowhereisland featured in Art Review
In July an island nation will arrive in Weymouth Harbour. It will be a moment of magic when a bit of faraway otherness arrives on Britain's coast – bringing something of another place with it. In magic there are two now-neglected principles of space. One is the principle of contiguity. This is the idea that things that are close to each other can affect each other. Intangible properties of things flow between them due to their spatial proximity... Tim Cresswell, Art Review -
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Gallery Exhibition
14 November 2011 - 21 January 2012
Alex Hartley: The world is still big
Victoria Miro is pleased to present Alex Hartley's most recent culmination of his on-going investigation into dystopian architecture, secular habitation and the construction of sanctuary as an inherent drive to... Victoria Miro Gallery I -
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Gallery Exhibition
6 September - 8 October 2005
Alex Hartley: Don't want to be part of your world
Don't want to be part of your world is a series of large-format landscape photographs Alex Hartley has taken in remote locations around the world. To these idyllic, desolate vistas... Victoria Miro Gallery I -
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Gallery Exhibition
29 October - 21 November 1997
Alex Hartley: Viewer
Alex Hartley presents a major new work, Viewer. A gargantuan fully functioning slide viewer, based on an early sixties design, takes over the gallery space whilst oversized slides lean casually... Victoria Miro Gallery II -
Gallery Exhibition
1 March - 7 April 1995
Alex Hartley: Fountain Head
Victoria Miro Gallery II
