Alex Brewer, also known as HENSE, is an American contemporary artist, best known for his dynamic, vivid and colorful abstract paintings and monumental wall pieces. He utilizes unique color and composition in his installations to evoke a bold presence in the varied spaces they inhabit. Brewer, a native of Atlanta, Georgia began his career painting and writing on the walls around the city at a young age. He discovered his love for creating art in public spaces through graffiti in the 1990’s. He produces numerous public works worldwide through a combination of techniques learned through graffiti writing and the formal language of abstract painting.

Conscious of the supporting architecture, Brewer dramatically transforms his environments by re-creating existing objects and surfaces and infusing his work into the existing landscape. Best known for his works in the public area, Brewer applies the same processes and techniques in his public art as he does on his interior installations. Through wall drawings and a dialogue between various shapes, color and composition, his process produces larger-than-life abstractions creating textured surfaces and a layering of forms and color. Brewer employs a great deal of thought arranging the shapes he uses, inspiring dramatic compositions and gestures in his finished products. His use of unique colors and patterns, his play with shifting shapes and surfaces, and his intense line quality are a contemporary counterpart to the post-modern masters working in minimalism and abstract expressionism in the mid-twentieth century. Brewer’s use of simplified geometric forms, un-modulated color and hard-edges common in minimalism is perfectly paired with the spontaneous mark making that was common in abstract expressionism. These influences on Brewer’s work exemplify a comprehensive look at contemporary, abstract painting.

Brewer has received recognition as a contemporary abstract painter, exploring, color, form and material. His works in the realm of public art have garnered him national and international attention. He has also received numerous notable commissions internationally and throughout the United States. His largest commissioned work is in Lima, Peru amassing an impressive size of 137 feet tall and 170 feet wide.With the ability to transform a gallery space or City’s landscape, Brewer’s paintings can act as a unifying thread in a community. Brewer is always inspired by creative expression and process in the public realm and creates works that play an important role in the visual interactions and dialogue of a community.

HENSE combines the quick pace and point-of-view of street culture with tumultuous compositions often characterized by highly keyed color, vertiginous line and biomorphic shapes.


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