ALEX SUGAR

FRAGILE REFLECTIONS

solo exhibition

September 5th - 28th, 2025

Opening Reception: First Friday, September 5th• 5-9pm​

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Arch Enemy Arts presents FRAGILE REFLECTIONS, seven new paintings by Alex Sugar, who creates surreal still lifes that pay homage to the native flora and fauna of the artist’s Australian homeland. Through a combination of styles, from tightly rendered realism to bold and graphic linework, Sugar’s surprising compositions, painted in acrylic and gorgeously floated in hardwood frames, inspire curiosity, imagination and an affinity for the natural world. 

 

“I based this series off a very limited colour palette of orange and mauve with hints of blue and green throughout. The overall idea with my work is the lifecycle of wildlife. In many of the pieces, I’ve paired these plants and animals with ceramic objects, glass, and shiny-looking elements to represent how precious the natural world has become.”

 

From the flying foxes in “Home Bound” to the banksia flower in “Frail Gems,” and even secondary characters like the northern darter butterflies and gum tree buds scattered throughout these paintings—all of them are distinctly Australian and painted true-to-life. But these are not your run-of-the mill nature paintings. Inspired by 17th century Dutch still life painting, Alex stages his plants and animals like motionless moments trapped in time. Paired with and, in some cases, turning flora and fauna into shiny, glinting and breakable glass, Alex emphasizes both the charm and precarity of the natural world. 

 

We love the backgrounds in Alex’s work, painted like flat, graphic wallpaper, perhaps a nod to the artist’s background in graffiti, street art, and graphic design. Almost exclusively working in jewel-like purple, burgundy, blue and orange, Alex blends warm and cool tones that embody a similar juxtaposition and symbolic complexity we find in his work. Taken together, FRAGILE REFLECTIONS celebrates the resilience, adaptation, and beauty of the Australian landscape, as well as an urgent need to protect it. 

 

Alex Sugar (b. 1990) is based in Melbourne, Australia. Entirely self-taught, his first introduction to making art was through tagging walls, which led him to incredible large-scale murals, graphic design, and for the past four years, more traditional methods of fine art. His background and blend of styles brings a fresh perspective to formal realism, and we are thrilled to welcome him back to Arch Enemy Arts following his widely successful debut solo last year. 

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FRAGILE REFLECTIONS will be on view from September 5th - 28th, 2025
Sold works will begin to ship the week starting October 5th, unless other rush shipping arrangements have been made. 

Items marked with a red dot have already been sold.

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