Written Interviews
Visionary Art Collective
Alex Selkowitz: Timeless Nostalgia
Alex Selkowitz is an oil painter who resides in Los Angeles, CA, creating scenes inspired by his experience working in the film industry and the bright Southern California light. Selkowitz’s works are set in a familiar suburban setting of quiet stillness, that evokes a subtle mystery or loneliness in the viewer, while emphasizing the artist’s technical skill and understanding of naturalism.
The Curator Salon
Tell me a little bit about your background. How did you come to be an artist?
When I was kid, I spent many hours daydreaming and always had a very active imagination. I was obsessed with comic strips, cartoons and comic books and often I would copy or trace characters to see how they were “made”. I consumed as many movies, video games and anything that stimulated me visually. I often fantasized of drawing comic strips or working on movies some day. Fine art was not on my radar until later in life….
Flying Fruit Bowl
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you became an artist? What inspires you to create?
My name is Alex Selkowitz and I currently live in Los Angeles with my wife and son. My day job is in the entertainment industry working on lighting crews for various tv shows and movies. I have always had a very artistic/creative side of me that has taken shape in various forms over time.
Due to the fact that lighting is a huge aspect of my day job I have spent thousands of hours watching how light and shadow play together. I see it all over the place out in the real world too. I think my eye is just drawn to it now. That’s where a lot of my inspiration comes from.
The Aliporepost
I came across the paintings of Los Angeles-based painter Alex Selkowitz earlier this year, whose work is inspired by the city's juxtaposition of urban sprawl and green spaces. There was a haunting sense of isolation seeing the stillness, the lack of human figures. Yet something oddly comforting in the lonely chairs, abandoned houses and suburban landscapes he paints.
How has this year been for you?
Well, this year has had a lot of ups and downs for sure. Obviously the pandemic overshadowed everyone's life to some extent or another. My day job in the film industry got shut down from March to June. I have been back at work for awhile now and that has been quite an ordeal filming a TV show during a pandemic…
