Alex Kvares
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Overview
Born Kyiv, Ukraine (at the time Kiev, USSR)
Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York
Alex Kvares is a New York-based artist whose artistic practice examines decaying systems and the mechanics of a collapsing patriarchy. From his earlier highly detailed graphite abstractions to his most recent work of image generation within the world of artificial intelligence, Kvares marries the horrific with the hypnotic to challenge systemic notions around politics, masculinity and violence.
Kvares' fascination with a certain grotesque aesthetic can be traced to the young artist's exposure to the horror movie genre, made all the more alluring because, in his native country of Ukraine (at the time the USSR), while not censored outright, horror was considered obscene. The genre as a whole presented a bleak outlook that was viewed critically by communist countries; they identified the influx of schlock culture to be reflective of what Marx described as capitalism's "vampire thirst for the living blood of labor". Horor was ripe for interpretation by the young artist, whose aesthetic sensibility became shaped by the visual language of Western directors (think David Cronenberg's use of "body horror" and George Romero's apocalyptic hordes of zombies).
Growing up with the legacy of war (as well as in a city neighboring Chernobyl), Kvares became increasingly intrigued with horror's ability to symbolize humanity's existential anxiety. "[In addition to horror films] I grew up with movies full of military characters -- War and Peace, as well as World War II narratives. Drawing these macabre scenes of soldiers in gala uniforms was a way of having the freedom to play around within a hermetic narrative that was far enough removed historically and geographically from 'relevant' political discourse." -
Works
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Biography
Alexander Kvares was born in 1975 in Kyiv, Ukraine (at the time Kiev, USSR). When he was 11 years old he was hospitalized and quarantined for a month with hepatitis. Despite having an interest in art and having grown up in a family of artists, it is during this month of isolation that he first began drawing; mostly as a means of escaping boredom and loneliness, as well as healing.
In 1990, the Kvares family left the Soviet Union and after several months moving around Europe, relocated to Kansas City, in the United States. It was here, as a 14 year old adapting to a new life, that Kvares continued his artistic development, clocking countless hours of drawing all the while feeling displaced and isolated. After dropping out of high school, Kvares attended undergrad at the University of Kansas, eventually earning his MFA from the University of Texas in Austin.
After earning his degree, Kvares spent a decade making art in Atlanta before moving to New York City to teach at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He continues to teach, while raising a family and devoting his creative energies to his work as a professional artist. His work has been exhibited at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia; Josee Bienvenu Gallery and Mulherin + Pollard in New York; Steven Zevitas Gallery and Judi Rotenburg in Boston; the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis; the Minsk Museum of Modern Art in Belarus; and the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in North Carolina. His work has been included in several issues of New American Paintings.
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Exhibitions
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MEPAINTSME at Jack Hanley Gallery
New York March 22 - April 21, 2024Mepaintsme, the anonymous artist and curator behind the MEPAINTSME Gallery and Instagram feed, will be showing his personal artwork in a solo presentation titled Drawn Curtains, which will feature a selection of the artist's recent works on paper.Read more
Concurrent with the solo show will be the group exhibition, Disparate Visions, which will feature MEPAINTSME gallery artists Alexandra Duprez, Robert Kraiss, Alex Kvares and Gosia Machon. -
Alex Kvares
For Eyes on Tips of Bullhorns January 11 - February 14, 2024MEPAINTSME is pleased to present a solo exhibition of drawings by New York-based artist, Alex Kvares.Read more -
Slight of Hand
Small works by contemporary artists November 1 - December 22, 2023The 'Slight of Hand' exhibition is an annual survey of small works by contemporary artists, curated by @mepaintsme. 2023 Featured artists: Manuchar Bendeliani, Dietmar Busse, Isabella K. Cancino, Meagan Donegan, Alexandra Duprez, Joseba Eskubi, Marcelo Guidoli, Uwe Henneken, Damien Hoar de Galvan, Lisa Ivory, Tess Jenkins, Casey Jex Smith, Calvin Kim, Alex Kvares, Sarah Lee, David X Levine, Heidrun Rathgeb, ZD Sands, Aurélie Salavert, Christian Schumann, Sebastian Supanz, Takeshi TadatsuRead more
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