Artists | MAKI Gallery | MAKI

Alec Egan was born in 1984 in Los Angeles, California, where he continues to live and work today. He received a BA from Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio) in 2007 and an MFA from Otis College of Art and Design (Los Angeles) in 2013. Egan employs thickly laid impasto in his depictions of fictitious still lifes and landscapes drawn from his own memory and imagination. His interior scenes, decorated with lavish floral patterns, repeatedly use typical domestic items such as furniture, books, and footwear as symbolic motifs that infuse profundity into the mundane. In contrast, his landscape paintings show vast, open spaces, reflecting nature’s crucial role in the construct of sentimental Americana. The consistent absence of human figures instills a quietly melancholic and even uncanny ambience in his work. Rich with art-historical references ranging from Van Gogh to Hokusai, Egan’s nostalgic dreamscapes are simultaneously faithful and inventive engagements with painterly tradition. The artist’s recent solo exhibitions include August, Anat Ebgi Gallery (Los Angeles, 2020); Pets, Charles Moffett Gallery (New York, 2019); Alec Egan: The Living Room, Dubuque Museum of Art (Iowa, 2019); and Welcome Home, California Heritage Museum (Los Angeles, 2017). He also continues to actively participate in group shows, primarily in the United States.