Alejandro Cardenas (born 1977 in Santiago, Chile) has created paintings and sculptures that present a picture of a post-human world in which human forms and the environment coexist peacefully. Cardenas immerses himself in the production of surreal, post-human scenarios of polished, gridded interiors filled by creepy, angular individuals, guided by his own imagination and inspired by a wide range of inspirations, including Surrealism, sci-fi, and magical realism. With his distinctive use of figuration, Cardenas creates his trademark humanoids—narrow, wire-frame silhouettes covered in vibrant zigzag patterns—calmly lying down, sitting up, or standing in simple architectural settings. These faceless humanoids, unlike us, seem to have no sensory organs, but they nonetheless have the ability to sense things. Instead, they use their body language to portray emotion, which leads to a wide range of implied emotional expression.
At the Cooper Union School of Art, Alejandro Cardenas earned his BFA in 2000. Cardenas had a prosperous career as a multimedia artist, working in illustration, graphic design, and videography, before switching to painting in the studio full-time. Cardenas worked as the Proenza Schouler’s art director and chief textile designer for more than ten years. He was also a founder member of Lansing-Dreiden, a transdisciplinary art collaborative based in New York that created artworks, a literary journal, and music records. Reviews of his artistic and creative endeavours have featured in publications including the New York Times, Vogue, and AnOther Magazine.
