LIAM ALVY

Greatly inspired by the skateboarding aesthetic of his youth, British painter Liam Alvy also credits the development of his style to a childhood spent visiting antique sales and flea markets. There is a sort of naive charisma to these works - partway between painterly prowess and the hyper-stylization that lands within the realm of illustration or the strongly contoured, recognizable shapes mostly reserved for classic traditional tattoo art. Alvy, a tattooist since his early twenties, has obviously honed his skills as a draftsman.

 

The works are deceptively complex; his compositions of leaping frogs and twisting tigers are certainly graphic, but make no mistake, they also exhibit a rigorous artistic sensibility that comes with years of creative training. Having shirked the usual channels (the art degree, the studio work) makes these pieces no less deserving of the 'high art' moniker - and in truth, what is that anyhow, but a hierarchical boundary typically used to categorize and suppress. If the past decade or more of fine art has taught us anything, it's that the art world is all the richer for including those (previously unincluded) forms: street art, tattoo art, or other so-called "low-brow" forms. Alvy's works are moreish, palpable, and relatable. The reason they feel so cheeky and familiar is that he is adept at combining pulp imagery and a skillful, painterly sensibility that comes with unabashed talent. After studying fine art and then photography at Leeds University, Alvy began devoting more time to his painting practice.

 

 

LIAM ALVY (b. 1987, Lincolnshire, UK) currently lives and works in Leeds, UK. Alvy studied Fine Art at college, and then completed a degree in Photography at the University of Leeds. After this Alvy began working as a tattooist for over a decade before turning to painting.

 

Previous solo exhibitions include: Feast of the Great Lakes, BEERS London, London, UK (2024); Guardians of the Temple, Sens Gallery, Hong Kong (2023) and; Those fucking frogs, man, Screw Gallery, Leeds, UK (2022).

 

Alvy’s work is now collected globally and sits in collections all over the world.