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.

Back To Artists

Alex Hamilton, Momento Andy, collage on canvas panel, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios: “Momento Andy”

Alex Hamilton, Momento Cuckoo, collage on canvas panel, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios: “Momento Cuckoo”

Alex Hamilton, Momento Eurythmic, collage on canvas panel, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios: “Momento Eurythmic”

Alex Hamilton, Momento Frida, collage on canvas panel, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios: “Momento Frida”

Alex Hamilton, Momento Mr President, unframed collage on canvas, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios “Momento Mr President”

Alex Hamilton, Momento Grace, collage on canvas panel, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios: “Momento Grace”

Alex Hamilton, Momento Ziggy, collage on canvas panel, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios: “Momento Ziggy”

Alex Hamilton, Momento Storm, collage on canvas panel, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios: “Momento Storm”

Alex Hamilton, Momento One Must, unframed collage on canvas, 300mm x 300mm, R1450

Prince Albert Open Studios “Momento One Must”

Alex Hamilton, Audrey Hepburn, unframed hand-cut stencil on vintage fabric, 450mm x 600mm, R6060

Audrey Hepburn

Alex Hamilton, Bette Davis, framed hand-cut stencil on vintage fabric, 300mm x 300mm, R1970

Bette Davis

Alex Hamilton, Grace Kelly, unframed hand-cut stencil on vintage fabric, 400mm x 400mm, R2580

Grace Kelly

Alex Hamilton, Elizabeth Taylor, unframed hand-cut stencil on vintage fabric, 400mm x 500mm, R2600

Elizabeth Taylor

Alex Hamilton, Judy Garland, unframed hand-cut stencil on vintage fabric, 400mm x 400mm, R2430

Judy Garland

Alex Hamilton, Marilyn Monroe, framed hand-cut stencil on vintage fabric, 240mm x 370mm, R1970

Marilyn Monroe

Alex Hamilton, Marilyn Monroe, unframed hand-cut stencil on vintage fabric, 600mm x 600mm, R7120