Step inside Miles Aldridge and Todd Hido’s Suburban Utopia

Introducing This Side Of Paradise - the must-see exhibition blending suburban glamour, cinema and narrative. Both Miles Aldridge and American artist Todd Hido aim to subvert the traditional American suburban fantasy, with unsettling undercurrents woven through their work. Hido’s surreally still series photographed at night is presented in stark contrast to Aldridge’s brightly lit, garish interiors, focusing on the imagined lives of the women who inhabit them.

Hido’s works in the exhibition are from his ongoing Houses at Night series, depicting isolated suburban homes in America, replete with voyeuristic undertones and implied narrative. Exploring themes of urban isolation and interior lives, his compositions are often bereft of human presence.

Elsewhere, Aldridge’s highly-stylised and richly saturated domestic scenes are charged with psychological tension and narrative ambiguity.The often-surreal imagery is heightened by his use of vibrant, richly saturated, acid tones.

Though works by Aldridge and Hido are visually dissimilar, both artists are recognisable for their distinctive cinematic colour palettes, lighting and compositions, and the suggestion of narrative possibilities beyond the edge of the frame.

Miles Aldridge, 'Chromo Thriller #2. 2012', (c) Miles Aldridge, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery
Todd Hido, '#2424-B, 1999', (c) Todd Hido, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery
Miles Aldridge, 'Chromo Thriller #3, 2012', (c) Miles Aldridge, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery
Miles Aldridge, ‘A Drop of Red #2, 2001’, (c) Miles Aldridge, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery
Todd Hido, ‘#7373, 2008’, (c) Todd Hido, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery
Miles Aldridge, ‘Actress #4, 2012’, (c) Miles Aldridge, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery
Todd Hido, ‘#1731’, 1996, (c) Todd Hido, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery
Miles Aldridge, ‘Short Breaths #1, 2012’, (c) Miles Aldridge, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery

‘This Side of Paradise: Narrative, Cinema and Suburbia in the work of Miles Aldridge and Todd Hido’ opens 15 November and runs until 15 December 2018 at the Huxley-Parlour Gallery. For more information head to huxleyparlour.com. 

Main image(c) Miles Aldridge, image courtesy of Huxley-Parlour Gallery