Incollect Magazine Issue 7

Incollect Magazine 95 Steven Alexander Spanierman Modern Whatever your feelings are, for or against, art that distances itself from any sort of representational or referential depiction there is a brand of abstraction that deals with pure blocks of color. Steven Alexander makes meditative, luminous abstract paintings that invite viewers to sit, view, and contemplate geometric shapes and forms. He is a craftsman, like so many abstract painters today, frequently combining oil and acrylic paint on canvas or paper, applied with exacting attention to surface detail. Color is his subject matter and primary tool and through the diversity and subtlety of his palette conjures up an impressive range of moods and emotions. These are emotional, intuitive abstractions for gentle contemplation. “What I find most compelling about Steven’s work are the sumptuous painterly surfaces created by his many-layered applications of both acrylic and oil paint. His luminous paintings are marvelously contemplative and serene which he achieves through his use of color and form in the same way that Rothko did,” says Gavin Spanierman from Spanierman Modern. Several works in his Voice series of paintings such as Voice 6, Voice 7 and Voice 11 deftly illustrate how he balances and weighs colors to create pleasing, thoughtful visual contrasts. Steven Alexander (b. 1953) Voice 11, 2019 Acrylic and oil on canvas 48 x 72 inches Spanierman Modern, New York, New York