Alex Kanevsky The Battle of Shahbarghan
April 6th (Sat.)-May 11th (Sat.) 2024
Opening Reception: 19:00-21:00 on April 5th (Fri.) 2024

104GALERIE (Nakameguro, Tokyo) is holding a solo exhibition by Alex Kanevsky (1963-, Tamworth, New
Hampshire, US) The Battle of Shahbarghan from April 6th (Sat.) to May 11th (Sat.) 2024. Kanevsky waspreviously introduced in a group show held by the gallery in 2022. This solo show, his first in Japan, willfeature 10 painting pieces of his latest work.

At the time of Covid pandemic we couldn’t go anywhere near other people. It wasn’t difficult because I live ina very rural place, the mountains of New Hampshire. There are not many people here. Forests, lakes, andmountains.
To get out of the house I wanted to have a project outside, away from people. I started working on a paintingof a mountain not far from my home. I wanted to do a big painting outdoors, something heroic in scale.
Something that would be larger than human size to envelop myself and any potential viewer of my painting.
The landscape that you experience from within, as it surrounds you.
I stretched a large canvas and mounted a heavy easel on the trailer that I would bring behind my car to a big
field next to the mountain. Everything had to be heavy and tied to the trailer with straps; a painting is likely
to fly away with sudden gusts of wind that happen often there.
I would spend entire days on this field looking at the mountain and slowly progressing with the painting. The
depth, the light, the colors changed all the time. There were many things happening in my life at the time,
both good and bad. Everything in the world, in my life and in the landscape around the mountain felt to bein flux. But the mountain was the same as it has always been before I came there and the same as it will beafter I am gone. Gradually I began thinking of it as the center of the universe (my universe anyway), like astationary axis around which everything spins. So instead of capturing a moment, as painters do, I waslooking at something for which the moments didn’t matter. It was very calm.
This is how the three paintings of the mountains in this exhibition came about. The other paintings havetheir own stories. I honestly believe that what makes a conversation boring, makes painting exciting. Whatpeople can express in words has no business being in painting. And conversely, what I love about painting issomething that cannot be explained in words.
This makes writing art statements difficult. The only thing I can describe in words are the circumstances ofthe painting’s creation. To me these paintings are simple. They don’t tell stories, they don’t reflect philosophy
or political views. I told the story of how I painted that mountain. What is in that painting can only be accessedby looking.
-Alex Kanevsky

The exhibition title, The Battle of Shahbarghan, refers to a little known battle during the Mughal period inIndia. A beautiful small painting remains to tell us about it, sitting in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

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Kanevsky comments that the phrase, “Everyone we meet is fighting a battle unknown to us”, describes
humanity well. The ten paintings in this exhibition bear no relation to one another, and the subjects depicted
are all different. Each of them contains twists and turns, and struggles that can never be known from theoutside.
One of the works is based on the Mughal painting in the Metropolitan Museum. Kanevsky’s work in itself is,just like that small painting, far more attractive than the background stories behind it. We are excited topresent you with an opportunity to view the latest work by Alex Kanevsky.

Alex Kanevsky was born in Russia in 1963.
He studied mathematics at Vilnius University in Lithuania before coming to the United States. After hisarrival to Philadelphia in 1983 he worked as Russian translator, illustrator at the Psychiatric Nursing
Magazine and drew pictures for the telephone book advertisements. After attending PAFA (1989-93) andwinning a Pew Fellowship (1997) he devoted himself to painting full time. Alex Kanevsky lives and works in
New Hampshire. He has exhibited his work in the United States, Canada, Italy, UK, France, Spain andIreland. His work is represented by Hollis Taggart in New York and Dolby Chadwick Gallery in SanFrancisco.US).

Along with the exhibition, limited copies of the latest book by the artist will be available for purchase.

Art book Alex Kanevsky
2023
200+ pages, hard cover
Publication: DOLBY CHADWICK GALLERYPrice (incl. tax) ¥17,600
Limited to 30 copies, First-come-first-served basis.

【Contact】

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104GALERIE
Exhibition, PR：Miyo Tsuchiya

email: miyo@104galerie.com

FORCE Building B1F, 1-20-4 Aobadai Meguro-ku Tokyo Japan 1530042
email: info@104galerie.com

tel: 03-6303-0956

website: www.104galerie.com

Hours：11:00 - 17:00
Closed on Sunday, public holidays

Chocorua Sleeper

Model with Painting and Mirror

2023

2024

Oil on wood

Oil on wood

101 x 152 cm

61 x 61 cm©Alex Kanevsky©Alex Kanevsky

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