“Wild Side” is a collection of figurative paintings and portraits, a fictional beauty magazine celebrating power, imagination, and human nature untamed. These works explore the contradictions at the heart of selfhood—beauty and unease, allure and alienation—inviting viewers to project their own narratives and emotions onto the painted figures.
At the center of “Wild Side” is a fascination with the expressive geography of the feminine face and figure, which I shape into entities of raw emotional energy. These figures often coexist with animals and other forms, inhabiting white iridescent voids—a deliberate absence of any narrative context amplifies the intensity of the figures. Through highly saturated color, stylization, and ambiguity, I create a space that is both inviting and disarming, where viewers confront unresolved tensions and experience layered emotional realities. Beneath the playful, glamorous surfaces, the work often provokes volatile responses, ranging from delight to discomfort.
Collaboration with AI plays a vital role in my process, offering an element of unpredictability that challenges my instincts and adds a layer of distance to the work. AI serves as a lens through which I examine the interplay of personal and cultural symbolism. By refining and transforming its output, I guide these images through my painting process, layering vinyl-based Flashe paint with expressive brushwork on wood panels. My approach emulates screen printing and emphasizes immediacy, presence, and the primal resonance of color and form.
Drawing inspiration from 20th-century visual culture—movie posters, vintage illustrations, cartoons, and advertisements—I pay homage to the aesthetics of the past while offering a contemporary reinterpretation. My work reflects a kinship with artists and illustrators who bridged the worlds of commercial and fine art, such as Patrick Nagel, Andy Warhol, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Like them, I explore the allure of surface and iconography, merging stylization with personal expression in a meditation on the themes that compel me.
In this ongoing journey, “Wild Side” is a space where the boundaries between beauty, absurdity, and emotional complexity dissolve into a vivid and untamed vision of human nature.
Alex Spalding (b. 1985, Springfield, MO) is a self-taught figurative painter specializing in vibrant, stylized works created with highly pigmented vinyl-based paints. Drawing from vintage commercial illustration and Contemporary fine art, he re-imagines these influences through bold technique and the innovative use of technology.
Before dedicating himself to painting in 2023, Alex was immersed in a diverse range of creative pursuits, including experimental dance music production, managing two net-based record labels, gonzo music journalism, screenwriting, and caricature, as well as minimalist graphic art. This multidisciplinary background continues to inform the eclectic style of his work today. Alex lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.
2025
Wild Side, The Jane Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2024
March For Art, IceBox, Philadelphia, PA
SmallWorks Annual Show '25, FrameWorks Studio & Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
16th Annual Hearts Show, Jinxed South Philly, Philadelphia, PA
February Among Friends, 3rd Street Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
New Members 2025, The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
The Freedom Show, IMPeRFeCT Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Bodies In Motion, 20*20 House, Lansdowne, PA
All You Can Eat, The Plastic Club, Philadelphia, PA
