Early in his career, Alex Blas began creating works of Dali-inspired oil paintings. Canvases set in sunburnt, surreal, and suspicious places, juxtaposed with models and subjects from our modern age in confused, spacey, ambitious moments.  His growth from dreamscapes to the photorealistic transitioned naturally as he focuses on romantic interpretations of classical techniques. His images are reminiscent of El Greco paintings due to their focus on shadow and color, but Blas’ detail is much more scrutinized and tender. His newest series “My Friends” has allowed Blas to feature people in his life that he admires so much, he says that he is not sure if he “wants to be them, or sleep with them.”  Distinct awareness of such a feeling by the artists would ordinarily display the model in the most idealized of settings, commensurate to the attraction.  However, Blas’ art incidentally results in the subjects often shown in captive, pensive, isolation.  His work is remarkable for the way he imbues each likeness with honest expressions and simply recognizable personalities. With a candid photograph, Blas finds distinctly stunning ordinary moments, in the homes and hang outs of these people.  The beauty in “My Friends” is found in the particular nature of the light refractions caught in these very honest snapshots.

Painting in the light of early morning hours, in his mature and warm West Hollywood home, gives Alex time to consider the shadows, colors, textures, skin tones, and the space and light in which they exist.  One painting I viewed in-progress has three friends around a table covered in snacks, as they look concerned and upset at a television.  The precise refractions on crumpled bags of chips, the melancholy eyebrows of the subjects, and just a hint of a joyful sunny day through a window, gives the painting a soulful depth and mystery on what they could be watching.  Alex has been shown at the Lyons Weir gallery in New York and the George Billis Gallery in Los Angeles, as well as showing at Manifest Equality and Legends of LaCienega sponsored by Elle Décor.  He currently curates Artwerq at the Downtown LA Artwalk monthly.  Blas presents his next work of photorealistic oil paintings in his new series “My Friends,” opening this October at the George Billis Gallery in Culver City.