Alexander de Cadenet

Alexander de Cadenet (born 24 May 1974), also known as Bruiser, is a British artist working in various media: predominantly painting, photography and sculpture.

De Cadenet launched his "skull portrait" concept at The Mark, a warehouse space gallery the artist opened at 259 Kings Road London in 1996.

In 2003 he presented a solo show (British Spies) in both the university and museum buildings of the Courtauld Institute of Art in Somerset house on the Strand, London.The ongoing series of works explores the themes of human achievement and the sacredness of art in particular within the tradition of Vanitas.The ten feet high cibachrome photographic Celebrity Series was first presented in the UK in 2000 at 30 Underwood Street Gallery in Shoreditch, London.

[5] In October 2022 de Cadenet presented within the Saatchi Gallery London with West Contemporary a new series of skull portraits, based on photos taken in 1947 of the remains of the Medici Family within the Michelangelo designed tomb.

This series specifically explores the facility of art to question the nature of identity and to contribute to the ongoing legacy of the subjects post mortality.

[8] Between 2008 and 2017 de Cadenet made a small series of castings in certified extra-terrestrial meteorite metal he purchased in Tucson, Arizona.

In 2016, the artist launched his Life Burger sculptures in California which continued his preoccupation with human ambition, material success and mortality.