"Untitled," 2011, mixed media on canvas, 60"x70"
Native to Atlanta and known initially for name recognition as a graffiti artist with the name HENSE, award-winning public artist Alex Brewer’s nearly two decades of working in the realm of public art, grants, commissions, and cross-media connections have landed him local, national and international public art projects. Brewer developed his skill for graffiti in the mid to late ‘90s and early 2000s. Atlanta’s anti graffiti ordnance of 2003 moved Brewer into the realm of granted and commissioned public art. He has received numerous commissions, particularly from the city of Atlanta. The latest was the Arizona Avenue mural “Float,” in 2012. (http://hensethename.com/site/about) Brewer began his career painting and writing on walls in and around Atlanta and has since produced numerous public wall works internationally. Brewer currently lives and works in Atlanta GA. Normally the main medium that Brewer would use is graffiti paint, but in these two untitled pieces of work, he has used a combination of different mediums to create them and I think they are very unique.
This mixed medium piece consists of white, tan colours and black. Featured in the painting are drips, like in the style of Cy Twombly, an artist I studied for my coursework unit. Twombly may be an influence for Brewer. The painting consists of a large black mark making painting at the top of the piece which is made up of shapes, lines and small drawings. Overlapping part of these black marks are more white marks in a similar style. Other than this, there are small detailed features in the painting which add more to the feel and uniqueness of it, such as the black dots in the top right hand corner, and the light grey marks in the white block that has been underneath the black marks.
There are many marks in this painting, some being linear. However the majority of these marks are very free hand painted and create the busy large black mark at the top of the painting. There are some strong contrasts between the very dark black and the light tan colour which is adjacent to it. This however creates diversity to the piece and allows the audience to focus more on what is going on with all of the marks in the black section. There isn't much diversity in terms of colours in this image, however there is a small section in the black section of marks, which is actually a small section of colour. This looks like spray paint, which reminds the audience that Brewer is still very involved in his graffiti work. This small mark consists of the colours orange (a secondary colour), red (a primary colour) and a greeny blue (tertiary colour). This is then blended into the piece using white spray paint to fade it slightly. Brewer has used many different shapes including many circles in this piece to lead the audience's eye throughout the piece.
The viewer is encouraged to begin looking at the piece from the top left hand corner and make their way down to the very tip of the black mark in the right hand third of the painting. The black mark descends as it continues throughout the rule of thirds and this certainly encourages the audience to follow a path when viewing this piece.
Brewer wanted to create this piece as a form of experimentation and created this piece as part of the group show he was invited to create work for, "Mark Making in Black and White." (http://localephemera.blogspot.co.uk/). Brett Smith (other artist I am studying) was also a part of this show.
This piece of work has encouraged me to persist with the idea of experimentation with layering and incorporating it with my exam question. I am considering mark making in this style by using a certain path for my audience to follow when observing my painting, as well as using shapes to create this style of mark making. This is something I need to experiment with and attempt to create.
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