Alan Kane

Alan Kane, born in 1961 in Nottingham, is an English artist whose work highlights and celebrates everyday culture and creativity, often exploring collections and those who build them. Through his practice Kane challenges systems of hierarchy that privilege certain artistic forms over others, notably the distinction between high art and more common cultural activity.

Kane’s art takes diverse forms, from day-time TV in ‘Life Class / Today’s Nude’ (Artangel, 2009), to displaying collections of pottery (‘Home for Orphan Dishes, Whitechapel, 2011) and domestic Christmas lighting transforming the facade of Tate Britain (‘Home for Christmas’, 2017-18). His work ‘Trying to Die Happy’ is a selection of thirty-three photographs taken from several thousand which were shot in the 1990s around London. These photographs feature friends, strangers, favourite routes, oddities and situations. Kane has described using his camera ''as a vehicle to conduct dialogues and as a way of recording activity'', seeing art in all aspects of everyday life.

Alan Kane has exhibited widely nationally and internationally, and his works are represented in numerous private and public collections in the UK including Arts Council England, The British Council, The Victoria & Albert Museum and Tate.