Alex Couwenberg: what we do is secret

Alex Couwenberg: what we do is secret
February 3rd – March 4th, 2016
Opening Reception: Wednesday, February 3, 5:30 – 7:30

Andrea Schwartz Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition featuring recent paintings by Alex Couwenberg.

“A Couwenberg painting is a delicately choreographed dance of shapes, everything on point, ready for the next note of music. They are regarded as tenuous balancing acts between great and tiny forms that are themselves inanimate, but on which gravity is acting with furious insistences.” – Peter Frank, 2013

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Alex Couwenberg was exposed to many of the visual elements that create the Southern California culture. The paint, pin striping, and finish associated with hot rod and custom car culture emerge as influences in his work. Mid- century design, furniture, architecture, surf and skateboard culture, color and graphics, geometric and hard-edge abstraction, and the love of craft and technique all fuel the work.

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 painting becomes an experience of constantly juxtaposing elements and forms within a composition attempting to arrive at a relationship between balance, tension, and harmony. The ideas of geometry expose themselves in the form of hard-edged compositions that suggest a complete and precise control of both medium and image.

Andrea Schwartz Gallery was established in 1982 and is located in the South of Market district of San Francisco at 545 – 4th Street. ASG exhibits contemporary work of mid- career artists from the Bay Area and across the country. ASG is a member of SFADA. Gallery Hours are Monday – Friday 9 – 5, Saturday by appointment. For further information and materials please contact Amanda Baker at 415-495-2090 or amanda@asgallery.com. Additional information may also be found on our website, www.asgallery.com.