Alex Close (b. 1993, Toronto)
Education
2020 Master of Design in Industrial Design Research– Carleton University (Canada)
2017 Master of Letters in Fine Art Practice, Specializing in Painting – Glasgow School of Art (UK)
2015 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting – Ontario College of Art & Design University (Canada)
2013 Academic Exchange – Glasgow School of Art (UK)
Solo and Two-person Exhibitions
2024 “A Painting for a Painting, a Tooth for a Tooth” Gravity Gallery – North Adams Massachusetts, USA
2023 “pitch, slip” Robert McLaughlin Gallery – Oshawa Ontario, Canada
2023 “Riddles for the Road” Brodac Gallery – Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina (in collaboration with Nour Hassan)
2023 “Fireproof” Litla Gallery – Hafnarfjordur Iceland (in collaboration with Paula Tyliszczak)
2021 “Tempered Mirage” Litla Gallery – Hafnarfjörður Iceland
2018 “Subterrestrial Visitors” Narva Art Residency – Narva Estonia
Group Exhibitions
2024 Radio Elsewheres 2.0 – Manifesto Gallery – Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
2024 42nd Annual Juried Exhibition – Visual Arts Center Clarington Canada
2023 “SU3023” Cultural Center ‘Miladinovci Brothers’ – Struga North Macedonia
2022 “Tendril” Cultural Center ‘Miladinovci Brothers’ – Struga, North Macedonia
2021 Osten Biennial of Drawing Exhibition of Finalists, National Galley of North Macedonia – Skopje N. Macedonia
2021 “Tehom” SÍM (Association of Icelandic Visual Artists) Gallery – Reykjavík Iceland
2020 Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition – Edinburgh UK
2017 “Drifting Corridors” The Old Hairdressers – Glasgow Scotland
2017 “Somewhere Far from the Subject Itself” House for an Art Lover – Glasgow Scotland
2017 Westaim Showcase OCADU – Toronto Canada
2015 Art Olympia Exhibition Toshima City Hall – Tokyo Japan
2015 “Experiencing Perspectives” Mercedes Benz Juried Exhibition – Mississauga Canada
2015, 2014 “The Big Draw” OCAD University Juried Silent Auction – Toronto Canada
Residencies
2024 Center of Gravity Residency (Walkaway House), North Adams Massachusetts USA
2023 Brodac Micro Residency (Brodac Gallery), Sarajevo Bosnia & Herzegovina
2023 Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa Canada
2023 Partizan Studios, Budapest Hungary
2021 Muzychi Expanded History Project, Muzychi Ukraine
2021 Nes Artist Residency, Skagaströnd Iceland
2021 SÍM (Association of Icelandic Visual Artists) Residency, Reykjavík Iceland
2019 Center for Contemporary Art, Prilep North Macedonia
2018 Narva Art Residency, Narva Estonia
Fieldwork/Short Courses
2023 Kuma International Summer School – Kuma International Center for Visual Arts for Post-Conflict Societies (Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina)
2021 Spatial Storytelling – Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts (Salzburg, Austria – Virtual)
2021 Reconfiguring Territories – Summer Research Program, (Narva, Estonia – Virtual)
2019 Mongolia’s Energy Transition Field School – American Center for Mongolian Studies (Mongolia)
2018 Tunnug Mound Archaeological and Geographical Expedition – Russian Geographical Society (Tuva, Russia)
Talks/Workshops
2024 “Vishni Timestamp” Site-responsive VR Drawing Workshop – Tendril-Vishni Residency, Struga N. Macedonia
2023 Guest Lecturer (Artist Talk) Extreme Abstraction Fourth Year Course – OCAD University, Toronto, Canada
2023 Tendril Struga Residency Workshop Series (Struga Sound Scavenger Hunt, Exquisite Blueprint – Paper and VR Collaborative Ideation) – Cultural Center ‘Miladinovci Brothers,’ Struga N. Macedonia
2023 Spiced Academy Workshop Series (Gathering Insights from Collaborative Digital Brainstorming, Remote Co-design & Digital Brainstorming) – Berlin Germany (Remote)
2023 Artist Talk – in Conversation with Hannah Keating at ‘pitch, slip’ Exhibition – Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa Canada
2022 Multidisciplinary Drawing Ideation in Virtual Environments (Online Workshop on Inclusion in Virtual Reality Applications at Carleton University) – Ottawa Canada (Remote)
2021 Guest Lecturer – Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Department of Drawing), Vienna Austria
2021 Artist Talk – in Conversation with Alevtina Kakhidze – Izolyatsia Foundation, Kyiv Ukraine
2021 Artist Talk – SÍM Residency, Reykjavik Iceland
2020 Design Brainstorming Workshop (for Second-Year Industrial Design Students), Carleton University, Ottawa Canada
2018 Russian Constructivism Lecture and Workshop – Narva Art Residency, Narva Estonia
Selected Awards and Grants
2022 Chalmers Grant for Professional Development – Ontario Arts Council (Canada)
2018-2020 Carleton University Academic Scholarship (Canada)
2019 Henry Luce Foundation Scholarship for Field School – American Center for Mongolian Studies (USA)
2017 Art Olympia Tokyo First Round Finalist Award (Japan)
2016 Mackendrick Postgraduate Scholarship (Scotland)
2016 Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (Canada)
2015 Art Olympia Tokyo Chu-Teh-I Jury Award (Japan)
2014 Aboveground Art Supplies Scholarship OCADU (Canada)
2013 Carol and Morton Rapp Foundation Scholarship OCADU (Canada)
Published Work
2024 “Visual Thinking in Virtual Environments: Evaluating Multidisciplinary Interaction Through Drawing Ideation in Real-time Remote Co-design” In journal: Frontiers in Virtual Reality, Inclusion in Virtual Reality Technology and Applications.
2022 Cover painting and illustrations for “Remembrances and Other Observations” – a collection of short prose poems on the heroes and heroines of the Holocaust and the act of remembering by Don David Calderon Y Aroesty
2020 Cover painting and illustrations for “The Bells Will Ring Tomorrow: Tales of Village Life in Aegean Macedonia” by Alex Gigeroff
2019 “Leveraging Disciplinary and Cultural Diversity in the Conceptualization Stages of Design” In book: Advances in Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design, Proceedings of the AHFE International Conference on Interdisciplinary Practice in Industrial Design
Collections
Living National Treasure Museum Tokyo Japan
Other Professional Experience
2023-2024 Co-founder/curator of Tendril Struga International Artist Residency (Struga, North Macedonia)
2020-2024 Illustrator, UX Researcher (Independent Contractor)
2022 Co-Curator of “Tendril” group exhibition at the Cultural Center “Miladinovci Brothers” (Struga, North Macedonia)
2021 Artist Assistant to Dr. Emilia Telese
2021 Scenic Artist on “Titans” Television Series
2019 Scenic Artist on “Zombies 2” Film
2017 Curator of “Drifting Corridors” group exhibition at The Old Hairdresser’s artist-run space (Glasgow, UK)