November 21, 2018: Alex Brewer was born in Atlanta in 1978 and grew up in a creative home with an architect and an interior designer as parents. Brewer began doing unauthorized street art in the early 1990’s at the age of 13 under the name Hense. Alex still keeps the Hense moniker today. Brewer became immersed in graffiti culture and became well-known for leaving his “Hense” tag all over the city. Brewer graduated from Grady High School, then went on to attend Virginia Commonwealth University. Brewer’s time at college was brief as the siren song of the graffiti wall drew him back to his beloved street art. In 2000 Alex got a job in the art publishing business that allowed him to experiment with different art materials and techniques.
The skills developed and honed during his unauthorized graffiti years have served Alex well in the present as a successful commissioned artist. Brewer is now known for his large-scale public site specific commissioned works. A great example in Atlanta is the West Side Cultural Arts Center. His largest installation for the ISIL Institute in Lima Peru is 40 meters (137 feet) tall and 50 meters (170 feet) wide. A small sample of Brewer’s long list of clients would include Apple, Facebook, Hilton, and The High Museum of Art.
Brewer works in different media from spray paint to wood cut-outs and metal sculpture. In a 2014 DesignBoom interview, Brewer said this about his work: “I describe my public works as contemporary public art and my paintings as contemporary painting. I’m interested in the relationships of elements, shapes and colors and how they interact with each other. Mark making is a form of expression that I like to focus on as well. I think a lot about context and where the work will be seen.” Brewer’s work ranges from powerful and hyperactive to calm and peaceful, but it is ALWAYS colorful. The ends of Brewer’s dynamic range are exemplified in Atlanta by the facade of the Westside Cultural Arts Center and the mural under the Virginia Ave. bridge. The Westside work reminds me of streamers flying through the air at a New Years Eve party as the party horns blast. Whereas Brewer’s Virginia Ave. street art reminds me of Monet’s water lilies.
Link to Alex Brewer’s website: http://hensethename.com
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