UNTITLED ABSTRACT COMPOSITION ( 2019 )

Acrylic on canvas, 76cm x 101cm

EXPERIMENTAL POSTCARD DRAWINGS ( REJECTED )

As with all of my postcards, I don't have any preconceived idea of what I'm actually going to draw - they are all just spontaneous, off-the-cuff compositions. When they then start to go wrong, I try and rescue them, with mixed results.

Experimental Postcards ( Rejected ): Ink and acrylic ( blue ) on watercolour postcards.

WORK IN PROGRESS [ cont'd from 23rd January ]

As-Yet-Untitled, Acrylic On Canvas, 60cm x 60cm.

NEW WORK IN PROGRESS

PROGRESSIONS

Untitled, acrylic on canvas, 60cm x 60cm.

Below: Extreme Close-Up,taken today [ 23rd Jan 2018 ].

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Below: Close Up, angle shot Dec 29 2017

Below: Jan 3rd 2018

Below: Jan 4th 2018

Below: Jan 23rd 2018

PENCILLED IN

As mentioned in the previous post, November's work-in-progress is now out of bounds due to being on display at Custard Factory. This has necessitated starting a new piece before the other is finished. The difference, is that this time I am making pencil shapes first, rather than automatically painting onto the blank grid. Whether this will result in a piece of work that looks significantly different than its two companion pieces is debatable. But at the moment it's a refreshing change to spend longer composing in pencil.

Untitled Work In Progress, Pencil on Canvas, 60cm x 60cm, Dec 2017.

MULTIPLE SINGULARITIES

CONTINUING EXPERIMENTAL WORK...

( All diagrams made from discarded fragments of other drawings, randomly placed on top of each other, and made entirely of vector lines. )

'BALANCE' : FINAL GROUP SHOW OF 2016, AT CUSTARD FACTORY

For myself and many of my colleagues, this was our final exhibition of 2016, at a beautiful space at the Custard Factory complex, Digbeth, Birmingham. I took these pictures soon after the install. Show curated by The Daphne Francis Gallery.

Below: My two contributions, now titled 'Encryption' and 'Stealth'.*

*Formerly referred to as Untitled Painting A and Untitled Painting C.

Below: Art by Zarina Keyani and Paris Christodoulou

Below: Painting by Zarina Keyani

Below: My art ( far left ) and Zarina Keyani

Below: Art by Jeannie Brown ( left x 3 ), and Paul Newman

For inquiries, please go to Daphne Francis Gallery website.

WORK IN PROGRESS 'C' : 24 / 11 / 2016 - DETAIL

To see the earlier iterations of this, scroll down to the 11th & 10th November blog entries.

Full size: 50cm x 75cm, Acrylic on Canvas.

Including this, I have a total of three 'in progress' paintings. The other two are currently on display so I won't get to finish them until I get them back.

You'll notice I've changed the scale on the blocks and bars of this piece. Everything is bigger, which means there will be less art on the surface of the canvas. You can still see the 'histories' underneath, but over time some of these details will gradually be over-written.

WHAT I SEE WHEN I LOOK AT MY WORK

WORK IN PROGRESS 'B' continues...

Below: Magnified detail shot of current painting.

The current painting ( below ) is still nowhere near satisfactory. To me, it looks dull, and mannered. Like I'm on autopilot, working on it until something inspirational occurs. However, that is not necessarily a bad thing, because every part of its history is recorded and can still be accessed - if you know how to look at it.

Abstraction is like any other form of visual media - it's a kind of prosthetic memory. We can store thoughts outside of ourselves in the form of computers, books, TV, sounds, sculpture and pictures.

From language comes imagery, metaphor and codes; To me, abstraction in art is merely another form of encrypted data. 

I would prefer it if people stood in front of my work and thought about it for a minute. The photographs here are a result of seeing the current piece under the spotlights in my studio, which highlight the details. Seeing the layers, plateaus, and valleys is what's satisfying...even when the painting itself remains unresolved.

Whatever form the final composition takes, all the previous histories will still be there, waiting to be found.

The photographs below are extreme closeups taken from the same painting ( above ). Variations in light quality are due to the artificial light, as it was night-time when the pictures were taken.

Work-In-Progress 'B', Acrylic on Canvas, 60cm x 60cm, 2016.

Go to Feb 2017's BLISS IN CONCRETE to see the final version.

''VOTE ALEXI'' TO GET MY NEW SHOE DESIGN INTO PRODUCTION - !!

Hi Everyone - check out my new shoe design ( below )!

I need a favour - to make sure my new shoes get into production, I need your vote.  

The company may ask for your email to do this - don't worry, they're ethical and don't spam. Thanks for the support! ;)

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR 'SHENZEN ECONOMIC ZONE'!

ALEXI K...LIFESTYLE BRAND!

I create art to please myself. I don't want to be limited. If the art makes it out of the studio, and into a gallery, or into somebody's house, great. If a company approaches me because they like it so much, that they want to take it beyond mere aesthetics and give it a practical application, even better.

A year ago, Valley Forge Fabrics in Florida contacted me and we struck up a dialogue over the subsequent months. They manufacture material for large-scale interiors, and were originally enamoured with my 'Polygraph Nudes' and wanted to see if they could turn one of those into a fabric design for a boutique hotel. Later, on a whim, I sent them photographs of my abstract paintings. You may know from reading my blog, that my paintings are a progressed form of all my influences ( Comics, Cubism, Bauhaus, etc ). They loved them so much they did a test run of materials, and the result is below.

Below: Wall covering and chair based on the painting 'SUPERHIGHWAY'.

Will this mean I lose credibility or - god forbid - can no longer win a Turner Prize, because my art is seen to be 'commercial'? Us Birmingham artists have long since realised that you have to create your own 'situation' and not worry about what other people, institutions - or any other entities - think. As I said before, you can't be limited by outmoded ideas regarding what is, or is not, achievable, acceptable, or credible. It's the 21st Century, and previous ways of thinking are now obsolete.

I like to boast that I've put in my ten-thousand man-hours, and that the art speaks for itself. So, if it's a toss-up between 'winning the Turner Prize', or becoming the next Coca-Cola, my response is simple:

I'll take both.

Valley Forge Fabrics contact page

Below: 'Superhighway', the original acrylic on canvas, 76cm x 101cm, 2014

For more Alexi K brand, click here.

OUT NOW, COURTESY OF BUCKETFEET: ALEXI K's 'ELECTRONIQUE' SHOE!

Inspired by my love of urban futurism and electronic music, the ELECTRONIQUE is my homage to those things that provide the foundation of my creativity. 

NOTE: This has now sold out. If there are plans to reissue this design, I'll let you know!

( Post updated from 01 / 09 / 2015 )

A GLITCH IN TIME

New 'faux-antique' fabric design taken from the code of a glitched photograph.

MESSAGE TO MY RUSSIAN FANS!

Если Вы хотите приобрести мои работы или обсудить возможность организации вернисажа с моими работами, пожалуйста, свяжитесь с моим агентом Ксенией по электронной почте gypsymothahoy [ at ] gmail.com с заколовком "Алексий К". 

Skyline, Pen & Ink on Watercolour Postcard, 2015

Благодарю заранее,

Алексий

ALL THAT JAZZ

As you will see, further down this page, I'm currently experimenting with a particular abstract drawing style based around a grid. Nothing is planned, with the exception of the grid itself. Therefore, it's easy for things to go wrong...or maybe too right. Here is a good example of a piece that looks a bit too neat for its own good. I really wasn't that impressed when I did it...but actually I think it looks great now, and reminiscent of a funky 60s jazz album cover.

Untitled Abstract, ink on watercolour postcard, May 2015

Pen: Rotring isograph .35

VIDEO DIARY 09/02/2015: STUDIO REPORT

NORA APARTMENTS, ORLANDO - ALEXI K'S POLYGRAPH NUDES

Nora Apartments, Orlando




Below: Woman Disrobing ( currently in Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, UK ).

All images: Pen & Ink on A3 paper.

My POLYGRAPH NUDES ( pen & ink on paper ), were just a simple graphic experiment drawn in a pad, then forgotten about, and left on the pile of miscellany under my desk.

That is, until Robert Kothe, editor of limited series art magazine The Corner, decided to feature them on the back pages of the debut issue. From there, the art got flagged-up by a funky erotic art / fetish website, and since then, every time these drawings surface online, the internet goes nuts.

Fast forward and we have the main lady ( above ) occupying a corner of Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery's WEST MIDLANDS OPEN ( until February 15th - please go and visit, the whole show is a great endorsement of the region's talent ), and last week, Liz Seay and the team at Scott & Cormia Architecture + Interiors placed four high-resolution prints from the same series, in the gymnasium of the NORA luxury apartment building in Florida ( see below ).

The 'polygraph' style came about as a progression from my enthusiasm for life-drawing. I've always felt that an artist should, at the very least, make a regular attempt to capture his own species in art - simply as an exercise, not even necessarily to exhibit. 
I think that art has a linguistic element to it, so as a communicator, I always try to refine what I'm trying to get across. This binary style ( stark black & white horizontal lines ) is a way of communicating an idea with as little embellishment as possible. 

The images had to be re-scanned at high resolution, and refined for printing at 48in x 48in. Here's an example of how some experimental scribbles made it out of the studio and into the world...

All art copyright Alexi K.

Big thanks to Liz Seay.

...and not forgetting and all the supporters and re-tweeters, incl. DVYZE & Beautiful Agony, amongst many others.