Alejandro Cardenas, born in 1977 in Santiago, Chile, is a painter whose work envisions a poetic, post‑human world in which humans and their environment merge in surreal harmony. His aesthetic is marked by polished compositions, architectural grids, and angular, near‑faceless humanoid figures clothed in vivid zig‑zag patterns – apparitions that seem snared between sci‑fi dreamscapes and magical‑realist reverie. Drawing upon a surrealist lineage informed by figures such as Max Ernst, Roberto Matta and Yves Tanguy, Cardenas has developed a distinctly contemporary visual language. His work emerges in response to the increasingly complex entanglements of climate crisis, geopolitical volatility and rapid technological acceleration, all of which lend a pervasive sense of uncertainty to the cultural mood of the present. Rather than offer resolution, Cardenas articulates this atmosphere by conjuring speculative worlds in which the boundaries between nature and artifice dissolve, encouraging reflection on humanity’s place within an evolving and unstable future.
Cardenas received his BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art in 2000. Prior to establishing himself as a full-time studio painter, he built a successful career as a multimedia artist, working across illustration, graphic design and videography. For over a decade, he served as lead textile designer and art director for the influential fashion label Proenza Schouler. He was also a founding member of Lansing-Dreiden, a New York-based transdisciplinary collective that produced music, a literary journal and visual artworks. His art and design projects have been featured in publications including The New York Times, Vogue, and AnOther Magazine. Cardenas has exhibited in group and solo shows, including Anat Ebgi (2019), the Hammer Museum (2003), and Marc Foxx (2002) in Los Angeles; in New York, he has shown at James Fuentes (2008 and 2010), Daniel Reich Gallery (2005), and Rivington Arms (2003).