ALEX PEARL

A true renaissance man, Alex Pearl makes: mini epic films, video installations, games, photographs, sculpture, blogs and books. Much of Pearl’s work makes a nod toward the structures and images of Science Fiction. The idea of the artist as evil genius or crackpot scientist always lurks in the background. His recent commission for the Whitstable Biennale was based on a mistake and his 17-channel installation called “Pearlville” was shown as part of Unspooling, artists and cinema at the Cornerhouse, Manchester. Lately, he has been unsuccessful in his Arts Council funding application to slaughter a large number of rival artists.

Alex Pearl

The Spaceships are a series of pencil drawings on blackboard. They are fragile records of the wondrous machines of my childhood. They are an attempt to make a drawing that in some way mimics film. As the viewer moves past, the image ranges from the almost invisible to scintillatingly bright

They also display an interest in recreating some sense of the wonder and disappointment inherent in science fiction. I grew up watching shows like: Dr Who, Space 1999, UFO, Star Trek and Blake’s 7. Then space travel and its vehicles required a suspension of disbelief and a pleasure in illusion.