Alexander Appleby (b.1995, UK) is an artist based in Lancaster, UK. He graduated from BA Fine Art: Painting at Wimbledon College of Art in 2021. A director in his own right, recreates the nature he has experienced in scenarios of his own making. Influenced by the landscapes of Northern England, Appleby’s work is imbued with the native feel of the region, underpinned by the vivid colors and textures of its rugged terrain. His smooth-surfaced trees, mountains, and plants, meanwhile, serve as a device that invites a more focused look at the beauty of nature itself, where no two things are exactly alike.
Even as he draws inspiration from the real world, however, the artist does not limit himself to any single perspective, fusing the fictional data he encounters across different media with his paintings and developing them further. In Low Poly Landscape, the mechanical, daisy-like plants recall the graphic style of classic computer games, while the adaptation of multiple layered mountain ridges conveys a sense of vastness, forming a unique vista. Between the ambiguity of their improbable composition and their attempts to hold and celebrate the beauty of nature within each frame, these paintings act as standalone scenes that combine “nature” with “that which is not there” — boiling down to scenes of subtle disruption, contained moments of dépaysement.