Alex Seton is an artist working in sculpture, photography, video and installation, best known for his use of marble carving. Throughout his practice he has used the techniques and languages of classical statuary and monument, playing with, inverting and exaggerating them to create works that reflect on the contemporary world. Recent work engages directly with contemporary political issues, such as Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers, and questions of conflict and nationhood. Through his work, Seton attempts to grapple the grander narrative through a humanist lens.
Seton has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. Solo exhibitions include The Great Escape, Goulburn Regional Gallery (2020); Once There, Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore (2019); Cargo, Sullivan+Strumpf Sydney (2018); Monument, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney (2017); Alex Seton: The Island, Newcastle Art Gallery (2017); Someone Else’s Problem, Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks (2015); As of Today, Australian War Memorial, Canberra (2014-15), Last Resort, touring McClelland Sculpture Park + Gallery, Langwarrin, Linden Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne & Rockhampton Art Gallery, Rockhampton (2014-15), Refoulement, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney (2014); and Roughing Out, Hazelhurst Regional Gallery and Arts Centre, Sydney (2013).
Recent group exhibitions include touring regional exhibition Safe Space (2018-2021); Hope Dies Last, Art at the End of Optimism; Gertrude Contemporary (2019); Love, Tweed Regional Gallery & Margaret Olley Art Centre (2019); Art Basel Hong Kong, Sullivan+Strumpf, (2019); 2019 Annual Group Show, Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney; All We Can’t See, Yellow House, Sydney (2018); I Was Here, Fremantle Arts Centre, Western Australia (2017); Less than – art and reductionism, QUT Art Museum, Brisbane (2017); Contemporary Talents prize winners exhibition, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller, France (2017); Countercurrents, Samstag Museum, Adelaide (2017); Young & Free | An Australian Discourse, Bega Valley Regional Gallery (2017); Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2016); Contour 556, Canberra Public Art Festival (2016); Sealed Section, Artbank, Sydney (2014-15); Gifted Artists: Donations by Patrick Corrigan AM, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (2014); Conflict: Contemporary Responses to War, University of Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane (2014); and Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Dark Heart, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (2014).
His work is held in collections including the National Gallery of Australia; Artbank; Art Gallery of South Australia; Australian War Memorial; Newcastle Art Gallery; Bendigo Art Gallery; the Danish Royal Art Collection, Copenhagen; HBO Collection, New York; and numerous other private and public collections.