Background

Alex Kanevsky was born on 1963 in Rostov-on-don, Russian Federation.

Education

Alex Kanevsky spent his early years in the Russian Federation. Although his parents weren’t artists, the boy had access to their rich collection of art books that certainly would influence the style of his upcoming paintings the first of which he produced at the age of ten. At the time, Kanevsky was interested in impressionism and surrounded by omnipresent Socialist realism.

Kanevsky pushed the boundaries of his formation as an artist in Vilnius, Lithuania where he relocated with his parents at the age of fifteen. While in the city, he studied theoretical mathematics at the Vilnius University graduating in 1983. Then, Kanevsky moved again, this time to the United States where he entered the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia in 1989. He graduated four years later.

Career

The start of Alex Kanevsky’s career can be counted from 1997 when he received the Pew Grant which allowed him to concentrate on painting and to develop his unique style. The paintings he created during this time were widely acquired by art galleries, and motivated to pursue a career as a full artist, he opened his own art studio.

Since then, Kanevsky has had a lot of solo exhibitions and has participated in a great number of group shows around the United States and abroad, including the art event in Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, France, and Ireland.

He has also tried himself as an educator. In 2002, the artist joined the staff of his alma mater, the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, where he served as an adjunct painting instructor till 2017. In 2012, Kanevsky was among the judges of the 71st Annual Juried Exhibition at the Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia.

Currently, Kanevsky lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His art is represented by Dolby Chadwick Gallery in San Francisco, and Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York City.

Achievements

• 

  Alex Kanevsky is an accomplished artist who overmastered art admirers and art critics with the paintings that transmit his unique perception of the world with exceptional clarity.
  
  In 2016, ‘Backyard’ canvas by Kanevsky was purchased at Clars Auction Gallery for $18,000.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Samurai Kimono

  • Landscape with People

  • Provocation

  • M.S.S. with Fish

  • The Mountain with The Valley

  • T.S. in Her Bath

  • Downpatrick Head

  • Frisians

  • Cheshire Hounds

  • Man Riding a Horse from South Carolina to Key West in Search of Better Life

  • The Hotel

  • M.H.

  • Black House with Shadows

  • Red Shoes

  • A Hand is a Fish

  • K.B. with a Cup

  • Pink Room

  • River

  • Monks at Sea

  • Rosy's House

  • Burning of Leaves

  • Styx

  • Dear Friend

  • Embrace

  • Rainy July

  • Waves

Views

Quotations: "Paintings do let us know when to leave them alone."

"Artists statements are not possible and any attempt to write one leads to confusion and misinformation."

"I love being an artist. Having a career would kill that joy. Career implies progress, some sort of goals and their accomplishment. I don’t have that."

"Painting is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m perfectly fine going to my studio, seven days a week, and spending my whole entire life in there. It has absolutely nothing to do with my work values or, you know, dedication; it’s because I want to be there. I’m actually very lazy."

Interests

• Writers

  Leo Tolstoy, James Joyce, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound

• Artists

  Rembrandt, Diego Velázquez, Lucien Freud, Francis Bacon, Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Richard Diebenkorn