Look again, Alex Gibbs' gouache paintings are hilariously sinister

Gouache and pencil crayons have always seemed like pretty friendly creative materials to us, the kind of medium with which you’d render a picturesque landscape or the beaming face of an innocent child. But stuff that, sometimes it’s best to subvert your medium and slap your viewer square in the face with some unexpectedly biting satire.

Alex Gibbs is the man responsible for these compelling images, an Edinburgh College of Art graduate with a real flair for the macabre. His work focuses on the sinister side of the human condition – plane crashes, sexual exploitation and neurosis – but he somehow makes it palatable with his colourful draughtsmanship and squidgy, dough-faced characters. Yes, that’s a seedy bout of group sex going on in the woods, but don’t those trees look lovely!