Open Mind Art Space is pleased to present "Unexplored Territories", a solo exhibition featuring contemporary paintings by Los Angeles-based artist, Charley Alexander. An opening reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, June 2nd at 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM. The exhibition will be on view from June 2nd through June 29th, 2018.

"Unexplored Territories" is a collection of abstract paintings from Charley Alexander’s latest body of work, which delves into the subconscious mind and examines the complexity of thoughts and memories. Each composition is made up of multi-dimensional layers of vibrant colors and rigid textures that weave in and out of the picture plane. This push and pull obscures the relationship between figure and ground, allowing the history of each painting to be both present and absent simultaneously.

Employing a variety of techniques and materials, Alexander uses paint, lace, mesh and stencils in the construction of his paintings. These common materials and mass produced textiles help to create a form of representational mark making that links the image back to the objects from which it was made. Much like traditional clay sculpture, the surface of his paintings are built up with thick layers of paint and then removed and built up again. His methodical marks and excavating movements are sometimes unintentional, guided solely by intuition and impulse.

Alexander’s piece titled "Night Hunt", demonstrates his most recent style of work, in which he first builds many layers of modeling paste and acrylic paint over a wood panel and then uses a power sander to peel away layers of paint, revealing his initial composition. By spraying paint through cotton mesh over the sanded surface, the image is visually pushed back or submerged in different areas. The resulting organic formations resemble a typographic map or geological survey, that serve as a visual representation of spontaneous thoughts and blurred memories - the unexplored territories of a subconscious mind.

Charley Alexander is an artist currently living and working in Los Angeles, California. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from Loyola Marymount University and his Masters degree in Painting from Otis College of Art and Design. Alexander’s work tests the boundaries between logic and intuition, experimentation and refined technique. His choice to use non-traditional materials in his work comes from his background in silk-screen printmaking and his interest in contemporary painting practices. Drawing influences from the history of painting and his obsessive commitment to experimentation, Alexander finds ways of challenging traditional painting practices.