I aspire to capture and connect with an ethereal beauty that transcends reality. Whether it is a face that dissolves into empty space or a part of the body that emerges from absolutely nowhere. By only painting what needs to be described, I hope to leave it to the viewer to fill in the blanks. Beauty, to me is subtle, simple, elegant, and pure, stripped down to reveal the bare essence of what is true. I draw much of my inspiration from Michelangelo’s Unfinished Slaves, where even in their incomplete state the forms quietly emerge out of the marble in a manner that is both mysterious and powerful.

Although color has long been believed to influence emotion throughout the history of art, it does not serve my creative approach. As a figurative painter of the human form, I use the body itself as my emotional medium. So much can be said through gesture. With this minimalist approach, my intension is to create powerful imagery through a pallet of neutral tones. Rather than using color, I utilize the contrast between light and shadow to express feeling through my work.

All things include elements of both yin and yang, as light cannot exist without darkness and darkness cannot exist without light. This dichotomy inspires me to play with the relationship between what is real and what is unimaginable. A woman’s face explodes into delicate flames of paint, while her torso stays completely intact. These seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent. Opposites can only exist in contrast to each other.

Alexandra Becker-Black

You can visit her website and purchase prints here.