Alexander Charriol

Alex Charriol is a multidisciplinary artist whose work examines intimacy, power, and psychological tension through figurative painting. Working primarily in acrylic and pastel, he creates restrained compositions that draw on cultural memory, domestic imagery, and symbolic interruption to explore how desire and human relationships are shaped by inherited social structures. Born in Hawaii and raised across multiple continents, Charriol's nomadic upbringing informs his sensitivity to displacement, role playing, and emotional negotiation. He studied at the Parsons School of Design, Tufts University, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston/Northeastern University, and has established studios in New York and Los Angeles.

My work examines intimacy, power, and desire as unstable forces shaped by social expectation rather than personal certainty. Through figurative painting, I explore how relationships are choreographed—how gestures, roles, and proximity reveal systems of control, vulnerability, and attraction beneath everyday scenes.

The figures I paint exist in moments of quiet tension. Domestic interiors, familiar poses, and symbolic interruptions disrupt any sense of comfort, exposing the psychological charge that underlies intimacy. Rather than illustrating narrative, the work isolates moments where meaning slips—where seduction, authority, and dependence become ambiguous.

Formally, I work in acrylic and pastel using a flat, restrained visual language. This reduction removes illusion and sentimentality, allowing the image to operate with clarity and pressure. The paintings resist resolution, holding the viewer in a space between recognition and unease.