Alex Gough completed his Foundation Studies at Chelsea College of Art in 2002 and holds a BA in Painting from Camberwell College of Art and an MA in Fine Art from City and Guilds, London. Gough was a resident artist at the Centre for Recent Drawing from 2009 to 2011 and was a resident artist and Gallery Manager at Block 336 Gallery in Brixton.
Gough has exhibited in the UK, Europe and the USA and has had several solo exhibitions including Wilderness in Paint' at the European Parliament's Twelve Star Gallery in Westminster, supported by the Finnish Embassy.
Gough feels strongly attached to his Finnish roots; trips in the winter to the forests of Finnish Lapland form the subject of his Wilderness in Paint' series comprising of oil paintings and prints. Gough says of his work:
“I am deeply influenced by phenomenological, sensational events: the Aurora Borealis, intense twilight and dangerously cold temperatures within the Arctic forests of Finnish Lapland during mid-winter. During these solitary moments, amongst Wilderness, I experience a heightened awareness of existence”.
Gough has recently started engraving images of the Finnish forest onto copper and then enamelling the works. This method began when he produced a series of works which were hung in a sauna which formed the focal part of Taina Suonio's Finnish Soul Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2021.
In 2022, Alex made a trip to the island of Stänggrund, Western Finland. Inspired by this trip and his walks in the forest, he created a series of paintings using mixed media to evoke the light and beauty of the Finnish forest.