Craig Alan’s Populus: Original Art You’ll Be Drawn To
It’s likely you’ll recognise a Craig Alan piece - or, at least, his style which has been an influence to many.
The pieces he creates prompt us to look at images we recognise, having recreated them anew. Allowing us to view celebrities and icons with a new perspective and consider the small moments and influences which have built them.
Having been creative since childhood in Atlanta, Alan was committed to following a Fine Art education - studies which covered a variety of techniques that influenced his unique style. He particularly identifies his time as a street artist, creating portraits for passersby, as integral to his later work - through this practice, he learned to create identifiable characters with simple forms.
Craig Alan is most widely recognised for his Populus series, in which individual figures - of around an inch - combine to create a recognisable image or portrait. When asked how the series came about, he tells the story of a time at his mother’s condo watching people from the balcony:
“I started photographing them from the 6th story balcony and began to notice a pattern through the camera. In one shot, the group of people appeared to have formed an eye on the screen, this started my creative wheels turning.”
Alan enjoys the reactions his work produces - the initial recognition drawing you in to see the distinct characters within. Viewers who get lost in the crowd will then step back to be reminded of the unifying form which originally caught their attention.
With his Populus pieces containing anything from 400 to 1800 people, they are not just a new take on a recognisable image but also show how Alan sees the individual's place in the world. As he says, individually we’re very small but “We are all part of something greater than ourselves, and if we work together we could achieve greater balance . . . not in a religious sense but rather a universal sense.”
Craig Alan’s works are big, impressive pieces which stop people in their tracks and we’ve been excited to share them with so many of you. He’ll be visiting us here in the Rose Gallery on the 8th of September and we’d love to welcome you along to meet the artist and enjoy exclusive original art as well as his latest editions.
Visit here to find out more.
