WorkArt & Culture

Photo-realistic paintings with a surreal American twist

When you first glance at Alex Roulette's American-themed paintings, you could mistake them for real photographs. That is until you spot something odd and out of place, realising instead that they're photo-realistic artworks with a surreal twist.

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Two swimmers in a turquoise pool with green plant leaves in the foreground, rendered in Alex Roulette's photo-realistic style with retro colour palette

Roulette explains: "Through painting, I depict fictional and occasionally fantastic scenes that explore the blurred sense of time and place within memories. The dreamlike landscapes incorporate familiar elements of suburban life that both stylistically and symbolically represent a quasi-nostalgic ordinariness. The isolation and dislocation of cars, houses, and figures, and the exploration of subtle spatial relationships, recall the hazy state of dreams in which certain details fall into place while others fade away into the unconscious."

You'll especially love the feeling of nostalgia thanks to the retro colour palette and chosen features, such as retro buildings. Whether you'll spot the subtle chilling meaning behind each artwork is another story. See more of his work on his website.

Bright red industrial building with blue-green windows and matching railings overlooks an empty courtyard under an overcast sky in a photo-realistic painting by Alex Roulette
Two figures navigate a massive green hedge maze beneath a surreal sky filled with vintage aeroplanes and a distant farmhouse
A figure stands on a residential street as bright turquoise smoke billows from a surreal cloud-like form, with red-roofed houses and coniferous trees in the background
Two figures stand on the pink deck beside a turquoise swimming pool with a red lifeguard station, set against mountains under a hazy sky
Tall rust-coloured tree trunks rise from a concrete platform in an open field, with figures seated in the distance beneath the canopy, creating a dreamlike and surreal landscape
People in vintage clothing stand on a hillside watching a colourful kite flying above a moss-covered mountain in a surreal landscape painting by Alex Roulette
Aerial view of a rural property with green fields, a winding path, figures around a blue paddling pool, and farm buildings in the distance
A figure jogs across snowy ground towards a glowing red and white building surrounded by bare trees in a hazy, dreamlike landscape
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