Alex Hamilton

 

BIOGRAPHY

Alex Hamilton was born in 1969 in the Great Karoo, went to high school in the Little Karoo and then moved to Cape Town to study Textile Design in 1988. After a year in the army he pursued a career in the arts and has been a full time artist since 1993. In 1997 he opened his own gallery, the celebrated “Bang the Gallery”, specialising in young emerging artists and Pop art.

In 1999 he moved into his first “uber” studio and closed “Bang” in 2002 to concentrate on his own work. During this time Hamilton exhibited extensively in Europe with solo exhibitions in Mallorca, Spain; Stuttgart, Germany and Dublin, Ireland. During this period he also formed a professional relationship with Knysna Fine Art and has, to date, presented six solo exhibitions at the various venues of this gallery.

In 2005, Hamilton moved into his first studio with a specific gallery space attached. It is at this location that he first exhibited his now signature stencil Street/Pop art style with an exhibition called “Cast & Crew – The History of Popular Culture” with a staggering 1000 individual, hand-cut stencil portraits. The success of this show led to numerous other exhibitions, commissions and projects and Hamilton has since diversified the portrait theme into landscape and architectural layered stencil studies.

In 2011, he moved into an even bigger (470m2) studio space occupying the entire top floor of an industrial building in Woodstock, Cape Town and created a studio gallery where today he hosts solo and informal group exhibitions with emerging artists and also houses his increasingly varied personal collections and library. He also hosts occational informal exhibition events, “Margarita Night Mash-Up” providing a platform for independent and alternative artists to exhibit their work.

In 2012, Hamilton produced a series of architectural stencil works with the Karoo town of Prince Albert as subject and after the opening of the exhibition was presented with his own permanent gallery space: The Alex Hamilton Gallery – Prince Albert.

Earlier this year (2013), he extended the now 2000-plus stencil archive to focus on South African iconography for a solo exhibition “Amper Almal” at the 19th Absa KKNK arts festival in Oudtshoorn.

Selected solo exhibitions   2013 Amper Almal, ABSA Klein karro Nationale Kunstefees, Oudtshoorn, South Africa 2012 Hallo Piketberg, Studio, The Art Business, Piketberg 2012 Topless in da Hood, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town 2012 Prince Albert, Karoo Collection, Prins Albert, South Africa 2011 Year of the Bunny, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town 2011 Both side of the Track, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2010 Roadtrip, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa 2010 Roadtrip, Zietsies Johannesburg, South Africa 2010 Collected Celebrity, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna , South Africa 2009 CAST & CREW, Gordart Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa 2009 AFROTIZE, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2008 CAST & CREW, Gordart Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa 2008 Trinkets and Trash, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2007 Flight School, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa 2007 You are what you hear, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town 2007 Everybody Angel Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2006 The Princess and the Pea, Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2006 How the fairies baked a cake, Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2005 Aquaplane, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town, South Africa, South Africa 2005 Rebels Saints and Divas, Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2004 How to do the Hamilton Hush-Hush, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa 2004 Silhouette of a Song, Dorp Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa 2003 Play Room/Pray Room, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa   Kerry work, Bond Restaurant, Dublin, Ireland   Paperdoll-part II, Artist’s Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2002 Paperdoll, Articles and Frames Gallery, Pretoria, South Africa   Girl annual (duo) Millennium Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa   Mandalas @ Azara, Azara Restaurant, Cape Town, South Africa 2001 Soulsearch (duo) Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   Eat drink love think, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   “Colores de mi tierra” Casa de Arte, Mallorca, Spain   Worth of the sky-colour of my land, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   Worn world, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2000 Kitsch Sin Art, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   Work on paper (duo) Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1999 Fruitwraps, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1998 Chilliestrip, Dino Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany 1998 Fever, Houtbay Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   Double reality, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1997 In pursuit of fruit, The Dinner club, Cape Town, South Africa   Solo exhibition: Sanlam Art gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1996 Eat Art, The Dinner club, Cape Town, South Africa     Selected Group exhibitions   2013 Monochrome, art.b gallery, Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa 2013 Mash-up: Type, Alex Hamilton Studio Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2012 Mash-up: 8-Bit, Alex Hamilton Studio Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2012 Mash-Up One, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town, South Africa 2012 Flesh, The Art Business, Piketberg, South Africa 2011 Collaborate, Participate, Celebrate, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town, South AFrica 2011 Both Sides of the track, Alex Hamilton Studio, Cape Town 2007 Opening Exhibition, GAIA Gallery, Whales 2007 Opening Exhibition, David Brown Fine Art, Johannesburg, South Africa 2006 Group exhibition, Gallery 34 Long, Cape Town, South Africa 2006 Group exhibition, What if the World Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2003 Opening exhibition, Envision Gallery, Toas , USA   Signed 2003, Old Arts Gallery. Pretoria, South Africa 2002 Group Exhibition, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa   Group exhibition, Dutch Art, Delft, Holland 2001 A 4000 – A 8000, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa   The fine line between here and there, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 2000 Blaze – exhibition heat, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   Big Bang, – The theory of art, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1999 Angels blue, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1998 A colourful explosion, Houtbay Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   Hot Chillies, Naked Man, Boom Chiki Boom, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa 1997 The holy banana and other relics, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa   Group exhibitions: Frederich Nauman Foundation, Lauenburg, Germany   Group exhibitions: general consulate of South Africa, Hamburg, Germany     Projects and Workshops   2007-2009 Contributing illustrator to GQ Magazine 2007 Contributing illustrator to WANTED Magazine 2005-2007 Contributing illustrator to GQ Magazine 2003 Cill Rialaig Artist Retreat, selected to spend 4 weeks at this exclusive artist retreat in Co. Kerry, Ireland 2000 Hewlett Packard – A celebration of art and technology. Curated and participated in this exhibition for Hewlett Packard, Johannesburg, South Africa 1999 Artswitch Artist Exchange Workshop, attended this two week workshop and exhibited at the Freidrich Naumann Foundation, Lauenburg, Germany 1997 Founded Bang the Gallery, taking position as curator and director.

 

 

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