This is a mixed media monoprint and it means v much to me! The three portraits are of my friends from my hometown, and this entire piece is just kind of a mushy-gushy omage to them and the support and love I feel when I’m with them— the exact same feeling I hope I’m able to return to them. <3
This is one of my favorites from this semester, and I’m excited to keep toying around with the concept.
“With nearly two decades of experience, Alex Brewer aka HENSE has been creating artwork since a young age. Starting in the early ‘90s, Brewer discovered his love for creating art in the public space through graffiti. He quickly became consumed with the scene and gained notoriety for his work, a mix of formal education, immersion in street art culture and experience in professional studios which have lead Brewer to establish his abstract-inspired style. His colorful artworks are usually formed by combining techniques of street art and abstract painting and incorporate line, shape, and gesture to creative abstract compositions that are invigorated by the quick pace and commentary of street culture.”
[Image ID: Two Images one of a marker colored print and one of a collage with parts of the same print but black and white in it .
Image 1: A marker-colored Print. It is split in two halves with a diagonal line of pale blue waves and white sea foams.
In the top half is a boy with light brown skin and dark brown wavy hair sitting on the beach looking to the left with a pensive expression. The sand is shades of beige and pale yellow. He is wearing a baby blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and light pink jeans. His arms are pulled back and supporting him, his feet meet the waves. There is a dock in the background and a light blue sky with white clouds.
In the bottom half is a mermaid with the same shade of brown skin and dark brown wavy hair looking distressed, she is curled inward. He hair is suspended around her and her arms are curled around her body. in the background are lines of dark green seaweed and bubbles framing her. Also there are wavy lines that thin around her to look like the ocean, in this background there is a gradient of light to dark blue like a halo around her.
On both figures are three thin lines on their neck that look like gills.
Image 2: A collaged print with a charcoal portrait in the background. It features a portrait of an east asian person overlaid with laters of text and images of a boy and mermaid from a print over it.
The portrait’s left side is visible from a diagonal line revealing more face at is goes down made up from a print overlay leaving from the left side of the hair, left eye, nose, lips visible. The person featured has short hair pushed back past the ear and is wearing glasses.
Over the right side of the face is a portion print of a boy on the beach, cut close against the contours of the sand. The boy has wavy hair and is sitting on the beach looking to the left with a pensive expression. He is wearing a white button-up shirt with the sleeve rolled up to his elbows and jeans. His arms are pulled back and supporting him, his feet meet the waves. There is a dock in the background. Underneath the print are cut-out words highlighted in light blue and in the right corner is a marker sketch of an upside down mermaid with wavy hair curled in on herself on a light grey background.
Over the neck and shoulders is a portion of a print of the same mermaid also upside down connected to a diagonal line of sea-weed and a section of a stream of water. Her hair is suspended around her and her arms are curled around her body. Underneath her are words cut-out a highlighted in light-pink. In the top right of the section, by the person’s ear is a marker sketch of the boy where his hand is outside the charcoal portrait. Below it are cut-out bubbles underneath the border of the charcoal portrait.
In between the two section is a stream of sea foam and sand with cut-out words pasted underneath them colored blue in the top section and pink in the bottom section. /End ID]
