Jason Shawn
Jason Shawn
Alexander is an expressionist figurative painter from Tennessee, now
living and working in Los Angeles. His intimate works penetrate to the
core of human integrity, often depicting images of figures wrenched in
that critical space where the strained coordination of mind, body, and
spirit, hangs in the balance of existential woe. Abstract elements now
and again emerge by way of exaggerated gestures, elongated limbs, the
doubling or tripling of images, hints of apparitions, or the intrusion
of foreign materials and text into the paint, which satisfy the rich
psychological nature of Alexander's work. Suggesting an intense
personal narrative, his paintings are imbued with an essential human
drama that is his signature quality.
Alexander's work has been
the subject of number of solo exhibitions, including the Corey Helford
Gallery, Culver City, CA, and 101/exhibit, Miami, FL, where he is
currently represented. In 2009 his portrait hung in the Smithsonian
National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC. His work is collected both
in the US and abroad.
A keen autodidact,
Alexander pulls from the vulnerability, fear, and underlying strength of
his rural upbringing, just outside of the haunting home of the Delta
Blues. Encouraged by his factory-employed father to pursue a career as
an artist, Alexander accrued through staunch pragmatism and southern
tenacity an extensive knowledge of fine art. Citing major influences in
Francis Bacon, Anselm Kiefer, Kathe Kollwitz, Cy Twombly, and Patrick
Graham; his earliest and enduring inspirations came from the art books
kept by his father of Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Goya, and Degas.
Alexander's career started when his
self-published illustrations caught the attention of mainstream and
independent comic book publishers. Alexander worked for years as a
draftsman for Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Oni Press. His friendship
with renowned painter Kent Williams found the two sharing a studio for a
time, painting side by side. Today, he has worked his way to
prominence as an authentic leading voice among contemporary American
figurative painters.
From his first solo
exhibition “Insomnious” at 101/exhibit in 2009, it was evident that
Alexander had traced the thread and was pulling it through. A reviewer
from ART NEWS was moved to write, “Recalling Bacon’s portraits, the
figures seem to cry out… Alexander’s impassioned application of oil
paints underscores the barely contained violence of the visions,
lingering like intimations of half-remembered dreams.”
At 37 years of age, Jason
Shawn Alexander is painting with the fervor and consistency of a matured
and confident master. He lives and works in Sherman Oaks, CA with his
wife and two dogs.
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