ABOUT WORK
I paint details. Oh I paint objects and ideas and narratives, but underneath it all – it is all about details and how they relate to each other. I find details fascinating, I look for them everywhere, I am in love with them, so I paint them.
I like series, so I paint in series. They are like long books that are too good to allow to end. My two more developed series are Memory Blocks and Crinkled Paper. Memory Blocks builds on exploring and relating to individual’s history, and Crinkled Paper is an exercise in meditation. It is fascinating to me that my viewers are interested in things that are so internal to me.
ABOUT ALEX
I started drawing in 2009 and painting shortly after that – a late comer. I have studied with three great artists. Kaye Buchman taught me to paint, to literally hold a brush, and discovered my style for me – I had no idea. George Sotos taught me how to see. Ed Hinkley was a pivotal point in my studies, he mentioned in passing about putting a right color into a right shape… – I have become a painter when I got that. But mostly I studied by obsessing over works of Caravaggio, Van Eyck, Rembrandt, Sargent, and Russian Peredvizhniks and trying to figure out how did they create their images.
When I am not painting, I am sketching. I am an Urban Sketcher and a founder of the Chicago chapter of Urban Sketchers. When I am not painting or sketching, I teach painting. So I am busy!
EXHIBITS
2017
- Holiday Small Works, National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society – Cathy Kline Gallery, Parkville, MO – November 2017
- International Guild of Realism 12th Annual – Winfield Gallery, Carmel-by-the-Sea CA – September 2017.
- Like Father – Like Daughter, 2 person show, Shimon Zonis and Alex Zonis, Palette & Chisel Academy, Chicago IL – May 2017
2016
- Oil Painters of America Salon 2016 – Castle Gallery, Fort Wayne IN – September 2016
- International Guild of Realism 11th Annual – Gallery 1261, Denver CO – August 2016. Award – Best Still Life
- Gold Medal show – Palette & Chisel Academy, Chicago IL – April 2016. Awards – 3rd Place, People’s Choice
2015
- 6″ Squared – Randy Higbee gallery – December 2015
- “Carnets, Disegni, Parole” (“Sketchbooks, Drawings, Words”) – September 2015 – Venice Italy
- 2015 International Artist magazine – October 2015 – Finalist
- International Guild of Realism, 10th Annual – Principle Gallery – August 2015 – Best of Still Life award
- Richeson75 Still Life & Floral – May 2015
- Divergence/Convergence, elee.mosynary gallery – March 2015
- Richeson75 Small Works – March 2015
- Unwrapping, solo show, Mostly Glass Gallery – February 2015
2014
- National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society – Fall show – Most Innovative award
- Matite in Viaggio, Centro Candiani, Venice Italy
2013
- 6″ Squared, Randy Higbee Gallery, Costa Mesa, CA
- 6 x 6 Show, Bucks County Gallery, New Hope, PA
2012
- WaterWorks, August House Gallery, Chicago IL
2011
- Art on the Edge, Thorndale Gallery, Chicago IL
2008
- SOFA Chicago 2008, Chicago IL
2007
- SOFA Chicago 2007, Chicago IL
2006
- SOFA New York 2006. NYC, NY – Dealer Choice
2005
- Chicago Art Open, Art Museum of Vietnam Veterans, Chicago IL
- Primary Colors, Artisans Center of Virginia, Waynesboro VA
- Beverly Arts Center of Chicago, Chicago IL
2004
- 7th International Open, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago IL
- Women’s Works 2004, Northwest Area Arts Council, Woodstock IL – People’s Choice award
- 3rd Annual Exhibition, Lemon Street Gallery, Kenosha WI
2003
- Artists for Peace, Justice and Civil Liberties Gallery, Boulder CO
- Winter Art Expo, Evanston Art Center, Evanston IL – Expo front piece
- The Art of Beadwork, Bead Society of Greater Chicago, Chicago IL
AFFILIATIONS
- International Guild of Realism
- Oil Painters of America
- National Oil & Acrylics Painters’ Society
- Portrait Society of America
- Palette & Chisel Academy