Alex Le May
Title, 2026, medium, XX x XXcm.
Alex le May grew up directly beneath the Heathrow flightpath, where approaching aircraft flew low enough that it felt you could reach them with a firework. Raised in a bedroom where his father’s Airfix models hung from the ceiling, gazing upwards almost always caught a fuselage, wing, and tail. Aeroplanes were inevitably the first things he learned to draw; he grew up to the metronome of the flight schedule, psychologically and sensorily attuned to the roar,vibration, and smell of jet engines.
Now a painter based in Bath, Alex previously travelled extensively by air across Africa for his work, building enduring friendships along the way. Though he now avoids flying wherever possible, his work marvels at the role flightpaths have played in weaving together disparate landscapes and human lives across the globe—holding the tension between the ecological cost of aviation and a machine that has fundamentally transformed our species' sense of connection.