Paradigm Gallery + Studio is pleased to present Body, a solo exhibition featuring the work of collage artist Alex Eckman-Lawn. Known for his imaginative paper assemblages, Eckman-Lawn spent over a decade cultivating a distinct visual vocabulary within his studio and commercial projects In Body, Eckman-Lawn showcases his illustration and storytelling skills in a cohesive narrative inspired by events from his childhood. Both mentally and physically, the artist faced an apocalypse that has fueled his creative process and inspired the motifs that enkindle his layered collages. Although his penchant for anatomy, architecture, and classical sculpture has always existed in the work, this exhibition will be the first instance that Eckman-Lawn opens up about his images’s emotional weight and the catharsis he has found creating them.

Eckman-Lawn has cultivated a particularly dark and mysterious flair in his artwork, sourcing inspiration from anatomical drawings, Polish movie posters, and video game cinematics. He expertly teases distorted bones and dilapidated machines within a dreamscape to create a sense of uncomfortableness that audiences can’t look away from. Although some elements of collage require existing images, he is determined to approach the work as an illustrator: digitally manipulating, painting, and carving until his vision comes to fruition.

His aesthetic and method of creating is informed by undergoing an invasive surgery to treat a severe case of scoliosis when he was twelve years old. The ordeal resulted in a metal rod being fused to his spine, affecting his mobility and being confined to his bed for some time. During the long recovery process, Eckman-Lawn endured a gauntlet of battles, mental and physical, including teaching himself to walk again and coming to terms with the transformation of his body. Now physically recovered as an adult, Eckman-Lawn is exploring in his art how his worldview has been shaped from this period in his life, like the hyperawareness of his mortality to his cynicism of the American healthcare system.

In this collection, Eckman-Lawn conjures specific images pulled from memory or dreams and arranges elements to add uneasiness, fear, or awe. The heart of his process is drawing and cutting a particular vignette in houses or figures while trying innumerable compositions of pieces until it satisfies his illustration concept. Inside, he adds details of teeth or engines within the receding planes of the work, suggesting that the story grows more intense the deeper you look in.

In diptychs like Unit 01 and Unit 02, Eckman-Lawn explores the metal structures his body holds, causing him to feel like part man, part machine: reinforced yet vulnerable. As the viewer peers through the layers, they can see gears, axles, and tubes contrasting the flesh and organs in the companion piece. He is using his understanding of fear to approach foreboding topics that audiences may relate to. Eckman-Lawn feels compelled to make this collection while witnessing reactions in the news and on social media to uncontrollable environmental disasters or unstable political climates. Hearing these events being referred to as signs of the end of days inspires him to visualize and address the chaos, like the looming, dark figure in Giant. “The artwork in the exhibition is about me facing the end of the world and understanding how I can still live comfortably inside it”. Invertedly, he has found comfort in creating distorted rib cages and gruesome mouths as demonstrations of how he has survived his own versions of the apocalypse in his life.

In this standout exhibition, Eckman-Lawn expands the capabilities of collage and found images to match the autobiographical and specific experiences expressed in the exhibition. He toes the line between illustrator, collagist, and sculptor as he creates new forms that reach out or fade into space out of the unassuming material of paper. Whereas previous exhibitions felt like a survey of his craft, Eckman-Lawn is now championing the personal anecdotes that lurk within the dimensional layers of the work.

Alex Eckman-Lawn is a Philadelphia-born illustrator who creates multi-layered, hand-cut, paper collages using everything from his original digital paintings to imagery from old medical texts. Each layer is spaced, creating a depth that draws you into the works. His work has appeared in comic books, on album covers, book covers, T-shirts, music videos, and posters. His cut paper works have most recently been on display at Scope Miami Beach, Art on Paper NY, Paradigm Gallery + Studio, Arch Enemy Arts, Art Dept., Gallery 1988, Crane Arts Ice Box, Bottleneck Gallery, and more. Eckman-Lawn received his BFA in Illustration from the University of the Arts in 2007.