The Alpha Gallery is pleased to present our first solo exhibition of paintings by Andy Karnes, opening on May 6th and continuing through June 1st. Karnes’ newest body of work embraces the deceptively mundane imagery of the domestic interior. Tables, chairs, windows and stairwells strike us with an instinctive sense of familiarity. But many of these scenes are based on artificial constructs. Karnes builds small-scale models of his interiors and works from direct observation of the model. The result lies somewhere in between the familiar and the foreign; the natural and the staged.

In each case, Karnes balances the artist’s control over what happens on the canvas with elements of uncertainty. As he states it, “through the process of editing, manipulation and reconstruction I surrender components of my work to chance, thus creating unpredictable marks and unanticipated imagery that both reinvigorate the surface of the painting as well as provide an alternative reading of the recognizable and ambiguous nature of our surroundings.”

Karnes received his BA from St. Mary’s College and his MFA from Boston University. He has exhibited his work in numerous cities in the U.S., as well as Ireland. Karnes was included in Sight Specific at the Concord Art Association and Boston Young Contemporaries at BU, both in 2014. He received a grant from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation in 2015, among other honors.

Karnes lives and works in Baltimore, Maryland.