Alexander A. Medlin II was raised by his single mother in a rural area of Upstate New York.
A deeply isolated—bordering anachronistic—upbringing spawned a deep appreciation for surreality and stillness, with overactive daydreams being the primary source of his inspiration.
The bulk of Medlin’s teen years were spent as an apprentice in a tattoo shop, finally becoming its manager at age 19. He left the industry at age 23 to pursue a practice in fine art, becoming a member of the Rome Art Association. This brought Medlin to his first selected group show at the now defunct Studio PK101 in 2015. In 2018 he took over management of Salem Art Gallery, serving as its curator until June, 2021. While studying painting at Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, Medlin worked as the gallery assistant at Arch Enemy Arts—a premiere gallery of contemporary pop-surrealism.
He is currently a full-time student studying General Fine Arts at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, anticipating the completion of his BFA program in May 2025.
“I treat my art as a spirit medium would their talking board. In this, creating is a means of discovery, not only toward what is possible, but what can be known about the self. As concepts for new projects come through like wafts of fragrance or a singular clear word spoken amidst the white noise of a crowded turnstile, I am tasked with divining them, naming them, and giving them form. I view this work as an archeology—while the ideas are relics culminating from a well of influences and experience, the task of categorization is my own, and I am able to define myself in doing so.
Each artwork is another piece of my becoming.”