Alejandro Brave: becoming what one surrounds oneself with

August 2021

A text by Luz Hitters

At the moment of creating a work, the artist synthesises various sources of inspiration, feelings and circumstances. Some of these are conscious. Most come from the unconscious. These sources intertwine, creating a plot that leads to additional information previously not visible to the viewer, and in most cases, also to the artist himself.

Interestingly, Alejandro Brave (Buenos Aires, 1970) mentions in our interview his inclination towards complex systems, which is, in my opinion, the basis of any creative impulse. A complex system works through non-centralised relations. It has interconnected and interdependent parts that can't be isolated nor reduced to one level. Like people who make up social groups, who make up societies, and societies make up humanity. They act as a network of relations that, when considered individually, may appear senseless at first glance. 

I decided to focus on this concept since I believe it to be critical in Brave's creative process. His work stems from varied sources of inspiration. It is a web of connections that condenses the quotidian, the spiritual and the theoretical.

Initially an architect, Brave states that each of his professions complement one another and fill the other's voids. In his architectural career, he is used to thinking about spaces and how they are inhabited. When painting, this same perspective applies, except that Brave devises no outcome. Instead, the process takes on a ludic stride, prompted by intuitively chosen pigments and bolstered by the colour's relationship to one another.

Brave is highly impacted by his time living in Texas. His artistic training took place at the Glassell School of Art, at the Museum of Fine Arts. This is evident in the spontaneity of Brave's visceral creative process. He is primarily inspired by modernist legacies and aims to conjure the bold heritage of fauvist colours in particular. His work also resonates with the simplicity and depth of Matisse's collages and Alexander Calder's mobiles. He relies on vibrant palettes and full colours, provocatively straining their combination with harmonious results.

Quotidian joy seems to be pivotal for the Argentine artist. Brave creates abstract patterns that suggest everyday scenes of enjoyment where shapes enhance one another. The settings are far from being spaces of conflict and suffering. Instead, they constitute invitations for celebration. In them, we can recognise familiar configurations –breasts, cacti, mountain ranges, rocks and bushes– matched by the emotional meaning he assigns to his selection of colours. As in his architecture, Brave's work reflects an interest in form, its purity, and the overall sensation experienced on-site. He makes art that is beautiful to live with, highlighting spaces and nourishing the relations within. For the artist, a home aims to create positive memories, so his instinct is to produce artworks that foreground everyday experiences.

On previous occasions, he mentioned his opposition to the intellectualisation of art. However, during our interview, he confessed that such a phrase seemed paradoxical. This self-reflective character defines the artist deeply. Brave is an introspective person, a freethinker who doesn't box his opinions. He candidly sustains that "One is made up of small decisions, which are more important than a big idea in the long run." Just like in his work, he believes that experiences overlap, coexist and feed into one another. Consequently, he searches for simplicity, pureness and an outcome that capitalises on his daily life. In short, Alejandro Brave's work reminds us that our view on life depends on the perspective we choose and the things we surround ourselves with.