Alex Bierk

Alex Bierk: Forest City Gallery Blog write up

Lyons Wier Gallery group exhibition in NYC Feb 15 – March 16, 2013

Born and raised in Peterborough, ON. Lives and works in Toronto, ON.

Alex works by transposing photographic portraits onto canvas stretched over panel board using a monochromatic palette of oil paint. Painting cell by cell in a slow, methodical and meticulous manner taking weeks, if not months, to complete, the artist carefully reproduces photographs of people he knows and some he doesn’t. The works are not mere throwbacks to photo-realism as they might appear on first glance, however. The more you examine the paintings, the less it appears to be a truthful replica of a photo. Textures on the face, for example, appear so overly detailed that they come across as psychedelic or even supernatural, taking on a quality that is unlike skin. Rather than being a mere portrait, the effect of the process through which Bierk delivers each image is something unique and personal that speaks not only of the character of the persons depicted but the character of the artist himself.

Alex neither hides the process nor the cells which comprise the painting; rather, his method is always made apparent as it is integral to his practice. The regimented regime taught to Alex by his father, the late painter David Bierk, was a means to focus attention and keep his son off the streets and out of trouble. The painter draws upon this familial inspiration in choosing to continue to paint in a manner less natural to the artists own character. Within the painting, you can see the artist’s own personality clashing with this highly meditative and controlled process. Each cell can be read as a burst of painterly expression that has been constrained by the borders of each individual cell. Alex’s work is the result of the negotiation between the parts of the whole and the whole of its parts – the controlled technique of replicating a photograph amidst the artist’s own expressionistic and ‘untamed’ personality.

Gilmour St., 2012, Oil on linen, on panel 14 x 11 in.

500 Gilmour, 2012, Oil on linen, on panel 10 x 12 in.

The 115, 2012, Oil on linen, on panel 16 x 12 in.

1992 (from the Allegory of Youth Series, S.B., 2012, 32.6 x 23.6 in., oil on linen, on panel

D.B. (from an ongoing series) 2012, 22 x 17 in., oil on canvas, on panel SOLD

Dennis Tourbin, 2011, 34 x 45 in., oil on canvas on board

Portrait of Dennis Tourbin

Alex Bierk’s portrait study is of Dennis Tourbin who was his Godfather and dear friend of his fathers, David Bierk.

Few saw life through the same lens as the often controversial, always inspirational artist Dennis Tourbin (1946-1998). Dennis was a poet, painter, performance artist, novelist, and art and poetry-magazine publisher. He was active in the artist-run centres network since the early days; he was a founding member of the Niagara Artists’ Center, he has run Gallery 101 in

Ottawa, in addition to have been Chairman of the Board of Artspace in Peterborough. Dennis was a key part of the development of the lively regional art scene since the seventies; he felt that artists have a profound connection to their communities and drew their inspiration from them.

Dennis explored the area between painting and literature and moved the word beyond the printed page, examining the explosion of media and its impact on the way we see and perceive things. He referred to his paintings as visual poetry, and he had developed a multi-media form which he called a painted play. Dennis was also best known for his work on the 1970 October Crisis and  left a lasting mark on a generation of artists.

His numerous works are exhibited, published, and performed throughout North America, and Europe. His works can be found in the National Gallery of Canada, the Canada Council Art Bank, the National Archives of Canada, and dozens of private and public collections throughout Canada, such as the Charlottetown Confederation Centre for the Arts, Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound and the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

Nadia Laham, February 2006

CV

Born 1982 in Peterborough ON, Canada

Lives and works in Toronto ON, Canada

EDUCATION

Toronto School of Art 2002

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS

Retuning Reality, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, New York, 2013

SCOPE Miami, General Hardware Contemporary, Booth K07, 2012

Art Toronto, General Hardware Contemporary, Booth #944, 2012

Fall Classic, SMASH, Curated by Dave Murray, Toronto ON, 2012

Pulp Friction, Intellectual Property, Curated by Steve Roufas, Toronto ON, 2011

Family Portrait, CRAM Gallery, St.Catharines ON, 2010

Inaugural Exhibition, General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto ON, 2010

Daddy, NACO Gallery, Toronto ON, 2009

Strangers, The Texas Institute For Socially Unaccepted

Geniuses, Peterborough ON, 2008

Head and Shoulders Above The Rest, S.P.I.N. Gallery, Toronto ON, 2007

Artspace 50/50, Artspace, Peterborough ON, 2007

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bizarre Beyond Belief, “Alex Bierk – Realist Portraiture” Bizarre Beyond Belief, Sept. 2012 http://bizarrebeyondbelief.com/2012/09/07/alex-bierk-realist-portraiture/

Jess Bloom & Rachel MacFarlane, “The Bierk Brothers” Studio Beat, Sept. 2012 http://www.studio-beat.com/artists/alex-jeff-nick-charlie-bierk-toronto-painters/

Jennifer Lorraine Fraser, “Love, Life and the World of Alex Bierk” Forest City Gallery, Nov.16 2011 http://fcgintern.blogspot.ca/2011/11/love-life-and-world-of-alex-bierk.html

NOW Magazine “Must-See Shows” NOW Magazine, Oct. 2010

Elizabeth Bower “Alex Bierk in New Exhibition” Peterborough Examiner, Oct. 2010

Tobey C. Anderson, “Family Portrait No.2” CRAM International, Oct. 2010 http://cramart.blogspot.ca/2010/10/family-portrait-no-2.html

Elizabeth Bower, “Bierk Brothers Offer Art About Family Relationships” Peterborough Examnier, Sept. 2010