CREATIVE FLAIR

ALEXANDRA GALLAGHER, ONE OF THE ARTISTS FROM NEW ONLINE ART PORTAL RUNWAY GALLERY, CREATES VIBRANT AND EXOTIC PRINTS

Gallagher began her career in art as a portrait artist. Then, about 10 years ago, feeling that her work had become ‘quite stale’, she began exploring other styles. ‘I had small children – my daughter was only about two – and I started taking photos of her and making collages out of them.’

Since then Gallagher has developed a series entitled ‘Birds with Birds’, which grew out of a wedding-present. ‘I created this piece for a friend,’ she says, ‘and in the end it all seemed to click, and I wanted to take this further.’

and she has. Gallagher’s coloursaturated works are produced from an intricate mixture of sources that include both personal photos and vintage images. She arranges the work digitally, a process that allows her to change things quickly and intuitively until she arrives at a place that feels right. ‘I never plan a piece. I’ll try a bit of this, a bit of that, until it starts to tell a story.’

The next stage in the process is to transfer the rough image onto canvas. ‘If it’s a mixed-media piece, I’ll get certain elements of the image printed and then I’ll paint in the rest,’ she says.

looking at Gallagher’s elegant, stylised prints, the influence of design and fashion is obvious – and her pieces attract style-savvy interior designers. and, like the magpies in her artwork, Gallagher is a collector, too: ‘I’m constantly looking at art and I absorb everything I can.’ But she singles out painter Jenny Saville as a creative influence: ‘I like the way her pieces are so “in your face” about the female form.’

Gallagher’s work is available to purchase from runway-gallery.com.