Alexis Schofield is a painter who creates impressionistic portraits and group compositions that explore themes of alienation and ennui. Using ink and oil paint as the base media for his palette, Schofield experiments with unusual materials – such as copper and glitter – both to challenge himself as practitioner and to trouble the viewer’s expectations of traditional painting.

By referencing found images as well as his own photographs, the artist is interested in scenes that produce an uncanny effect. Their protagonists are obscured. While they might be coupled claustrophobically, they rarely, if ever, seem to interact with one another. They are unposed, often in awkward positions. Their environments are urban or suburban, often domestic – familiar, but rendered strange.  Their fluid, allusive and sometimes supernatural nature recalls the work of Marlene Dumas, a major influence, while their disquieting compositions and colour combinations nod to another inspiration, Peter Doig.

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“I wanted to get this feeling of alienation to come across in my palettes, in my image choice,” says the artist, “this feeling of being outside.” Several elements add up, layer by layer, to produce this effect. The lonely and muddled figures. The surreal colour choices – such as a flash of pink or neon green. The watery blotches of pigment, which create the impression of an image leaking out from blank canvas. The odd perspectives and material choices. All these combine to estrange the viewer from the image, to evoke feelings of discomfort and unease.

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Alexis Schofield was born in 1982. He grew up in Pretoria, South Africa. He currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. He studied design at The Open Window in Pretoria. Graduating in 2010, Schofield has worked extensively as a designer with a background in film. He started painting in 2017.

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Schofield has exhibited two solo exhibitions, Impressions, 2023 and Feed, both at 99 Loop Gallery in 2023. Selected group exhibitions include Why the Long Face?, 99 Loop Gallery (2023), Reflection, 99 Loop Gallery (2022) and Untitled 9.99, 99 Loop Gallery (2022).