Little Dark Fantasy : Felix Treadwell

Union Gallery is pleased to present Little Dark Fantasy, a new body of oil paintings by Felix Treadwell, curated by William Gustafsson.

Little Dark Fantasy explores the immersive genre of fantasy. The works balance between the precarious overlapping of imagination, reality and fantasy in a series of heavily charged paintings, detailing the story of a seemingly shy, pretty girl, acting out this cruel and murderous act.

Treadwell feeds us this loose storyboard-like narrative to navigate our most intense perversions. In an attempt to lose yourself into the fantasy created by Treadwell, one enters an experience between the viewer, character and artist. Through this parallel fantasy world, the character adopts a new fictitious persona in the temporary sphere of “gaming” fantasy.

Entering into this world Treadwell places an anthropomorphic green goblin figure, symbolizing the genre of fantasy for evil and malice. The goblin acts as our desire to shift our identity even further and become things impossible to our own current existence. The character is a product of individual introspection, where the girl is unshackled from her previous reality and is no longer clouded by any senses of morality.

Fantasy allows us to explore our own human condition, obtaining abilities superior to ones personal self or conduct acts outside our socially accepted norm. Treadwell manifests the girl in her “player character” as the fictional setting increasingly engrosses her. Her actions no longer have real life consequences. The true-self becomes passive, yet Treadwell gives us glimpses, anxious eyes wide open, of the girl reacting to her lengthy endeavor within the narrative. These evocative scenes encompass the view into Treadwell’s Little Dark Fantasy.

Felix Treadwell (b. 1992) graduated MA Painting from the Royal College of Art after completing his BA in Painting at Camberwell College of Arts. Treadwell received the Hix Award in 2014 before taking up a residency at the Kyoto Seika University in Japan. Recent exhibition include; LTD Los Angeles , LA, USA (2019), L21, Mallorca, ES (2018), MA Painting Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London, UK (2018), Bloomberg New Contemporaries, London & Newcastle, (2018/17).

Felix Treadwell lives and works in London, UK