Beyond the formal correlations and sympathetic resonances ‘embedded’ in the disparate materialities of both Peter Alexander and Sebastian Lloyd Rees’s work; squares set against powerful vertical and horizontal compositions, there lies more subtle metaphorical and literary associations of opacity and transparency in the mere six work that substantiate this exhibition. Alexander, who is rightly seen as a master of the ‘Californian Sublime’, has long been concerned with ideas of looking into or beyond the heat and light of the sun, whereas, Lloyd Rees, who hails from much colder climes, is compelled by the socio-politics of intended obfuscation. His powerful wooden collages are composed, in the manner of modernist inclusivity, from construction site hoardings, intended both to ‘keep us out’ and to hide, what’s gong on within, from without. Alex Kitnick recently wrote of Alexander’s work that “they make one aware of the history and culture that informs our vision, but which more often than not is kept out of focus”, but if we simply switch ‘focus’ for ‘view’ the words resonate at the differing unobtainable at the heart of both artists work.

Peter Alexander (b. 1939) has been widely exhibited in galleries and institutions worldwide since the mid- 1960s. His work resides in the permanent collections of such museums as the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York).

Sebastian Lloyd Rees (born Stavangar, Norway, 1986, lives and works in London/ Rome) finds a way to ‘politic’ without politicking. his immersive hoarding collages create discourse out of discord; transmuting heavy-handed symbols of social exclusion into masterworks of quasi-spiritual inclusion. Lloyd Rees has made two solo exhibitions for mother’s tankstation in 2018 in the London gallery and in 2017 in the Dublin space. Further Recent presentations of his work include ‘Vendor’ Room East, New York (solo, 2015), L’albero della cuccagna, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2015), ‘Open Source: Art at the Eclipse of Capitalism’, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin (2015), Lloyd Rees also works in ongoing collaboration with Ali Eisa as Lloyd Corporation, staging projects at Prada Foundation / Qatar Museum Authorities, Athens (2017), Frieze London’s Live Projects and ‘Mirror City’, Hayward Gallery, London (2014).