BARDO - ALO at BSMT Gallery

Known as the Urban Expressionist, ALO brings Fine Art into an urban context to make it accessible to a wider audience, revealing the human condition through pattern, line and quietly coded symbols. A sensitivity that focuses on the thresholds between studio and street, anonymity and presence.

Taking its title from the idea of a liminal passage, ‘BARDO’ dwells in moments that feel both immediate and timeless. Figures are caught in a quiet space in mid‑thought, city fragments and glimpses of the natural world edge into view so that each painting reads like a quiet encounter: intimate yet public, delicate yet insistent, personal yet archetypal.

Primarily a studio‑based painter, ALO’s hand is unmistakable. He works with brushes, paint and pens, eschewing spray cans -even in his outdoor interventions. The surfaces carry a tactility that is markedly un‑urban in technique but sit in such harmony with their environment that they feel like they have always been there. Vivid palettes, layered textures and distinctive linework continue to blur the boundaries between Street culture and Fine Art. Very few of ALO’s street pieces are painted with permission and he is not paid for these creations, maintaining his philosophy that public art should be free and accessible to all.

About the Artist

Italian born ALO (Aristide Loria) lives and works in Hackney, London. Often described as the Urban Expressionist, his practice fuses the discipline of Fine Art with the immediacy of the street. His portraits are subtle, delicate and charged with visual clues that hint at biography and memory. Whether encountered on canvas in the gallery or on an uncommissioned wall, his figures feel paused in a moment suspended in time.

About BSMT

BSMT is a Dalston gallery born in 2015 from a disused basement, now street-level, dedicated to connecting street culture with the gallery space. It champions emerging and established artists across urban and contemporary art, runs a boundary-pushing programme, supports causes it believes in, and keeps exhibitions authentic, community-minded, and culturally enriching.

Visit the Exhibition

Join us for the private view of ‘BARDO’ on October 2nd, 6-9pm, the show runs from October 3rd to October 12th2025.

Opening night refreshments generously provided by our friends at Jubel Beer.

BSMT Gallery
529 Kingsland Road
London, E8 4AR

For press enquiries please contact: hello@bsmt.co.uk
Instagram: @bsmtspace