Alexander. Oil on panel, 2019.

I first met Alex over 10 years ago, at a wedding. He looked amazing, and was wearing a suit he’d made himself. He’d been in a seminal 90s band called Acacia, which also featured the Grammy nominated singer songwriter Imogen Heap and multi-instrumentalist Guy Sigsworth (Björk, Britney, Alanis). Alex himself had a solo singing career as The Blackmoth.

I met Alex again a few years later when we were both extras in the music video for Artmagic. I asked him to sit for me, and we met up at his London flat soon after. 

The painting was selected for the 2020 BP Portrait Award - but, due to Covid-19, the proposed exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery was cancelled.

The picture was finally exhibited at Manchester City Art Gallery in 2022, where it formed part of ‘Dandy Style’, an exhibition of flamboyant men’s fashions through the ages.