alex podesta

In his most recent work, Alex Podesta recontextualizes the fantasies and misconceptions of childhood through the filters of adulthood and experience. According to Podesta, this is done “in an attempt to plumb the depths of the creative and comprehensive naiveté of youth; to illustrate, in engaging and seriocomic ways, the role of fantasy, “othering” and conflict in nascent self-awareness.” His works often place their central character in a reverie of industriousness, along with a doppelganger or other machinations of his juvenile imagination. The figures appear to grapple with existential perplexities and metaphysical impossibilities, locked in a never-ending battle with “misapplication, miscomprehension, and misunderstanding.”

Born in North Carolina and raised in Virginia, Podesta has rooted himself in New Orleans since moving there. In the time since, his work has been featured in exhibitions nationally and internationally, as well as in numerous print and online media outlets such as ARTnews, Oxford American, HiFructose, and The Washington Post. He is also a member of the artist run exhibition space, The Front, in New Orleans’ St. Claude Arts District.