EFA STUDIO PROGRAM: Member Artists
Alex Gingrow
I make text-based paintings and drawings that are at turns witty, sardonic, poetic, self-deprecating and revealing. Using basic formal elements such as line, color, and shape, I create a push and pull that welcomes viewers into the environment while also tasking them with bringing their own associations to the experience. The works in this series are deeply personal narratives mined from memories of childhood, family, loss, and longing. Each piece begins with the text, which is self-generated and functions as poetic scaffolding for the related images. While the text looms like a ghost in the background, the bright and colorful images in the foreground serve to draw the viewer in while obscuring the darkness and turmoil often alluded to in the words. Like the goal of all good literature, I strive to make nuanced work that is, at its core, an examination of the oddities and intricacies of the human condition.
