Alex Couwenberg

Lives and works in California.

Alex Couwenberg is a recipient of the 2007 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant.

Los Angeles based painter Alex Couwenberg has forged a unique reputation in California by producing a distinctive body of work that is a product of his obsession with the process of painting.

Born and raised in Los Angeles and Orange County, Alex Couwenberg was exposed to many of the visual elements that create the So Cal terrain. The subject matter in his work comes from a deep appreciation of the aesthetic associated with the Southern California culture. The paint, pin striping, and finish associated with hot rod and custom car culture all show up as influences in his work. Mid-century design, furniture, and architecture, surf and skateboard culture, color and graphics, geometric and hard-edge abstraction, and the love of craft and technique all fuel the work. Applying paint to a surface and the experiences that occur while creating an image are the purest form of his motivation. The paintings themselves diagram the process of paint application and the interpretation of how these influences manifest themselves in the form of shape, color, texture, and space. Each of his painting becomes an experience of constantly juxtaposing elements and forms within a composition attempting to arrive at a relationship between balance, tension, and harmony.

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