ALEX CHOWANIEC
Works
Info
Works
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BACKGROUND
Chowaniec has exhibited internationally, including at the Barbican Centre, London; Olga Korper Gallery, Art Toronto, Galerie dâArt Jean-Claude Bergeron and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Canada; Knockdown Center, National Academy of Design, Georges BergĂšs Gallery, Ortega y Gasset Projects, lorimoto, Grace Exhibition Space, SPRING/BREAK and Kleinert/James Center for the Arts in New York; Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in Milwaukee, WI; and SOMArts Cultural Center and The Lab in San Francisco. She is represented in Canada by Wall Space Gallery and her works are available through Beaux-arts des AmĂ©riques, MontrĂ©al. Chowaniec holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating with the Irene Pijoan Memorial Painting Award, and Joan Mitchell Foundation, Headlands Centre for the Arts, and SECA Award (SFMOMA) nominations. She received her BFA Honors from Queenâs University, in Canada.
The democratization of access to art is critical. Chowaniecâs goal is to expand how we achieve this; working in hybrid media (traditional and new) with the conscious goal of creating multiple access points for viewer engagement. Chowaniec is a contributing writer for the Brooklyn Rail.
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ALEX’ DO PICHO PROJECT
Remember You Must Live
What if a still life could be a call to action for saving the animate?Â
A bodegĂłn, nature morte or still life from stilleven (Dutch).Â
The earliest known still life paintings date back to ancient Egypt, 15th century BCE. The funerary paintings in the Tomb of Menna depict offerings including winking fish, fresh meat, perfect mounds of dried fruit and beer for consumption by the soul in the afterlife. In the Middle Ages, symbolic still life emerged from the borders of illuminated manuscripts, where the religious and allegorical met. The mussels in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves are organs on their death beds of open shells. The Northern Renaissance blossomed with floral art and brought reminders of our vanity (vanitas) as a variation of the memento mori genre (âremember you must dieâ). Spanish painter Juan SĂĄnchez CotĂĄn made tender paintings of vegetables teetering on the edge of the void.
I make art about our passages into and out of this world. I believe that flowers and fungi are radical, and nature is a powerful subject for exploring these journeys. Walking in the natural environment and engaging with the proverbial and literal forest floor is where I begin.Â
During my residency at Do Picho, I want to explore the plants, animals and fungi of the forests, riverbanks and seashores of Galicia and create a visual reminder of the life of this unique ecosystem and what is at stake when it is endangered. The specific threat of acid rain from human industry is particularly acute to the coastal waters and rivers where all fish will die from the pH of 4.2 or less. I want to walk and talk with its stewards to understand the impact on this vulnerable ecosystem; how we must protect and preserve it. Through these conversations I hope to also learn about and share the traditions inextricably connected to this environment. Specifically, the forms of local recipes, therapeutics, ceramics, music and textilesâ the rituals and practices of its cultural tapestry rooted in nature.Â
With all these materials (e.g. fallen leaves, molted feathers, bones, songs, text, vessels, shells and rocks) I plan to create ephemeral still life installations in situ (in nature) and document them through photography, drawing and painting en plein air. Ultimately, this documentation will become impasto oil paintings on the scale of the domestic altarpiece that represent living shrines or tombs. A still life can be a call to action.Â
ALEX CHOWANIEC
Works
Info
Works
Info
BACKGROUND
Chowaniec has exhibited internationally, including at the Barbican Centre, London; Olga Korper Gallery, Art Toronto, Galerie dâArt Jean-Claude Bergeron and the Agnes Etherington Art Centre in Canada; Knockdown Center, National Academy of Design, Georges BergĂšs Gallery, Ortega y Gasset Projects, lorimoto, Grace Exhibition Space, SPRING/BREAK and Kleinert/James Center for the Arts in New York; Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in Milwaukee, WI; and SOMArts Cultural Center and The Lab in San Francisco. She is represented in Canada by Wall Space Gallery and her works are available through Beaux-arts des AmĂ©riques, MontrĂ©al. Chowaniec holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, graduating with the Irene Pijoan Memorial Painting Award, and Joan Mitchell Foundation, Headlands Centre for the Arts, and SECA Award (SFMOMA) nominations. She received her BFA Honors from Queenâs University, in Canada.
The democratization of access to art is critical. Chowaniecâs goal is to expand how we achieve this; working in hybrid media (traditional and new) with the conscious goal of creating multiple access points for viewer engagement. Chowaniec is a contributing writer for the Brooklyn Rail.
Â
ALEX’ DO PICHO PROJECT
Remember You Must Live
What if a still life could be a call to action for saving the animate?Â
A bodegĂłn, nature morte or still life from stilleven (Dutch).Â
The earliest known still life paintings date back to ancient Egypt, 15th century BCE. The funerary paintings in the Tomb of Menna depict offerings including winking fish, fresh meat, perfect mounds of dried fruit and beer for consumption by the soul in the afterlife. In the Middle Ages, symbolic still life emerged from the borders of illuminated manuscripts, where the religious and allegorical met. The mussels in the Hours of Catherine of Cleves are organs on their death beds of open shells. The Northern Renaissance blossomed with floral art and brought reminders of our vanity (vanitas) as a variation of the memento mori genre (âremember you must dieâ). Spanish painter Juan SĂĄnchez CotĂĄn made tender paintings of vegetables teetering on the edge of the void.
I make art about our passages into and out of this world. I believe that flowers and fungi are radical, and nature is a powerful subject for exploring these journeys. Walking in the natural environment and engaging with the proverbial and literal forest floor is where I begin.Â
During my residency at Do Picho, I want to explore the plants, animals and fungi of the forests, riverbanks and seashores of Galicia and create a visual reminder of the life of this unique ecosystem and what is at stake when it is endangered. The specific threat of acid rain from human industry is particularly acute to the coastal waters and rivers where all fish will die from the pH of 4.2 or less. I want to walk and talk with its stewards to understand the impact on this vulnerable ecosystem; how we must protect and preserve it. Through these conversations I hope to also learn about and share the traditions inextricably connected to this environment. Specifically, the forms of local recipes, therapeutics, ceramics, music and textilesâ the rituals and practices of its cultural tapestry rooted in nature.Â
With all these materials (e.g. fallen leaves, molted feathers, bones, songs, text, vessels, shells and rocks) I plan to create ephemeral still life installations in situ (in nature) and document them through photography, drawing and painting en plein air. Ultimately, this documentation will become impasto oil paintings on the scale of the domestic altarpiece that represent living shrines or tombs. A still life can be a call to action.Â