Show and Talk by Alex the Grave
June 1st, 2018
Averill Park, NY, United States
Alex was or first month long day residence. Everyday she commuted from Troy, to fully embrace herself in the creation of her series of paintings. The last day of her residency she gave a talk on her work. She shared her insights of working with the balance between trauma and humor, how her art involves a high level of personal exposure while she at the same time maintains a filter of ambiguity. Her portraits, large scale, detailed, full of life and hardship, of herself and her family members. The talk continued into a great audience discussion around color, personalities, poetry, exposure and life.
Alex the Grave is an American painter and poet living and working in Troy, New York. They’ve received a BA in English and a MA in Fine Arts, both at University at Albany, SUNY.
Their work mainly explores themes of mental illness, invisible disability, personal relationships, trauma, dark and dry humor, and the idea of a melodramatic truth. It is a therapeutic self exposure. Heavily inspired by comic books, zines and items such as handmade signs or diaries, Alex seeks to combine these aesthetics and simultaneously enlarge and expose specific moments and feelings in a physical form.
