ALEXI TORRES: Woven Connections | SEPTEMBER 15 - OCTOBER 31, 2022

Alexi Torres is an artist from Cuba. He is known for his oil paintings that are painted to appear as if knitted and woven. His artistic inspiration is derived from everyday, organic objects, such as leaves, feathers, basket weavings, and cloth. It is driven by a love of nature and his dedication to perfecting a unique oil painting technique.

Alexi Torres discusses the relationship between nature and man in a contemporary context emphasizing the interconnectedness of all living things. His works are exceptionally complex, intricately weaving together organic and symbolic elements to create monumental works which challenge the viewer to see beneath the surface into the archetypal qualities of his subjects. He seeks to initiate a dialogue on the effects and power of human thought and behavior on the ever-changing environment and the need for appreciation of what is. Torres taps into universal collective memory with playful themes and ironic juxtapositions relevant to the contemporary experience.

His series range from portraits of ordinary people, culture, military to a diverse sampling of symbols from popular culture. These images are then reimagined and reconstructed using a unique multi-layer painting technique. Inspired by the agrarian lifestyle of his friends and family, Torres plants an idea for each new work and harvests it at completion according to the lunar patterns followed by his ancestors in his native Cuba. To record this ritual, each painting is begun and finished on a waning moon and recorded with his signature on the canvas.