Born 1992 in London, UK
Lives and works in Berlin, Germany
Alexandra Metcalf works in painting and sculpture, reinterpreting the history of gendered labor through antiquated ornamental traditions. Metcalf considers the way historic counter-culture movements shape aesthetics, with the intense patterns and coloring of her paintings representing domestic landscapes full of anxiety and populated by hysteric women. Metcalf mythologizes a dramatic descent into madness through exaggerated yet self-aware images related to historically established notions of femininity. One could see this as a satire of literary tropes or an attempt to depict the heightened levels of dramatic tension characteristic of operatic storytelling, where most things are to be seen in parentheses. Her fascination with craft is coupled with attempts to regender labor-intensive mediums historically seen as masculine, including stained glass, bronze casting, and handcrafted woodwork.
Alexandra Metcalf graduated from the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London and Rhode Island School of Design, Providence. Her work has recently been exhibited at 15 Orient Gallery, New York; Kunsthalle Zürich; Champ Lacombe, Biarritz; Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris; LOMEX, New York; and Ginny on Frederick, London. Metcalf’s work is held in The Museum of Modern Art Library Collection, New York; The Perry and Marty Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Brown University, Providence and The Perimeter, London.