THE FOCUS

Alex Blau (b. 1970, Austin, TX) has an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and works primarily in painting. She has had solo shows at several venues, including Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Colorado, Zeitgeist Gallery in Nashville, Firecat Projects in Chicago, Gallery Seomi in Seoul, Mark Moore Gallery in Santa Monica, Kevin Bruk Gallery in Miami, Barbara Davis Gallery in Houston, and the New Britain Museum of American Art. Alex Blau, Studio Visit, May 2017 (works pictured may be...

Street signs, logos, flags (the origin and rules of heraldry are especially intriguing to me), colors, typefaces, all hyper-designed for a specific purpose, to create order or assimilation in one way or another. Often, I think about how visual standards and prompts direct us. Sarah Shebaro, Studio Visit, May 2017 Sarah Shebaro, Studio Visit, May 2017 Sarah Shebaro, Studio Visit, May 2017 I experiment with these rules (proportion, color, iconography), with shifts in size, color, etc. to both draw attention to the intent...

I describe my work as a combination of several methods of painting, incorporating different ideas, frameworks, and strategies. I consider myself a formalist; I am less interested in ideas and more interested in exploring methods of creativity in order to achieve new visual languages and suggestions. James Perrin, Studio Visit, May 2017 James Perrin, Studio Visit, May 2017 I allow my creative process to be intuitive and non-linear. I focus on the expressiveness and possibilities contained in the materials of paint and...