Alexander Koch

As a painter, I make use of the conventions and techniques of the medium, but I have been researching my own way of incorporating the experience of drawing and mark making within the expressive anatomy of my figurative painting. I find that my gestural, highly textured way of painting works best on large and raw canvases. With a classical approach to color and composition, using contemporary imagery, juxtaposing known painting archetypes and themes with personal fixations and virtual formal qualities, I find interesting ways to incorporate past, present and future.

I am predominantly interested in creating a meeting point between two or more subject matters of unpredictable sources. I use this as a starting point to make my way through the unpredictability of image making, re-proposing an idea, and letting the image find its new set of rules. My paintings feature archetypal symbols of today’s youth culture and classical compositions, deformed frames and intuitive imagery.

When using a set composition I am interested in from pop-culture or art history, I prefer to sketch preemptively on paper to pick and choose in my image archive characters that would then play within the compositional blueprint. The characters in my paintings are a result of my medium specific process, I make a stage for them to appear on, rather than them being my subject. They represent more of an inner expression, which comes out through working with painting as a medium and as a tradition.

Born to classical ballet dancers along with a family tradition of classical art and raised in a world of digital entertainment, I strive to draw inspiration from both worlds and marry them together in an exploration of painting, print-making, sculptural frames and assemblage.

Symbolically established characters appear in my work, suggesting struggle, resilience, and a search for belonging in the world. However, this is not the ancient world that Odysseus once wandered—through references to art historical formal qualities to contemporary youth culture such as anime, video games, or streetwear, I place my characters in a dystopian version of the present day. These characters represent a spirit of youth both with its strong naivety and the drive to constantly advance, adapt and rebuild society to new ideals.

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