from Red, by John Logan

Setting:

The hardwood floor is splattered and stained with hues of dark red paint.
There is a cluttered counter or tables filled with buckets of paint, tins of turpentine, tubes of glue, crates of eggs, bottles of Scotch, packets of pigment, coffee cans filled with brushes, a portable burner or stovetop, and a phone.
There is also a phonograph with messy stacks of records.

One for LA. Details to follow.

Atlantic Approach, mixed media on paper, Rico 2009

Thoughts on Alex Cowenburg
April 8, 2010

I was exposed to the work of Alex Cowenburg through mutual acquaintances last year. Heretofore, I have only experienced the work through reproduction. In such manner, they engage; but in seeing better facsimiles recently, -which show the surfaces at greater accuracy- I must conclude that in person they envelope. His pictures, -for me, strike an almost spiritual balance between being clearly labored and yet appearing effortless and ephemeral. Rare that work (in reproduction, no less!) can convey such transmutation and achieve such truth.