Alexandra Verbeek’s vibrantly abstract paintings transform our surrounding natural world into eloquent manifestations of color, depth and texture. Working in predominantly oil on canvas and linen, Verbeek adds layer upon layer of paint onto canvas with multiple intervals of drying. Her laborious technique imparts both a poignant marriage of contrasting tones and a dynamic tactility in textural composition. Inspired by nature and wildlife, Verbeek allows her experiences outdoors to dictate the vast array of emotion that emanates throughout her oeuvre.
In works such as Hot Summer, vivid layers of bright yellow paint diagonally transition into a deep crimson hue that is at once combative and compliant. It is as if both colors were performing a reluctant waltz, meeting in the middle in a flurry of textural union. In Winter, lustrous shades of cobalt blue, navy, and terra cotta sweep across thick layers of white and gray. Verbeek’s mastery over composition reveals itself through the painting’s lack of beginning or end as each layer of pigment moves horizontally in unison. The artist is currently based in the south of France.
