Biography
Alexandra Chowaniec currently lives and works in New York. She paints full-time in her studio in Bushwick and exhibits internationally. She is a painter, filmmaker and new media artist. Her work engages the hybrid spaces, conceptualizing the human figure and its extensions in contemporary visual culture. She is also working with the U.S. Pavilion team, presenting Sarah Sze at the 2013 Venice Biennale. Chowaniec was selected by the Olympic Fine Arts Committee to show, as an emerging Canadian painter, in an exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London this summer (2012).
Chowaniec attended the Queen's University BFA programme from 2002-2006. In 2003, she participated in the Queen's University Venice Summer School. She subsequently organized a study abroad programme and traveled to Florence twice during her tenure at Queen's to paint at the Lorenzo de'Medici Institute of Fine Art.
After her graduation from Queen's, Chowaniec moved to San Francisco to pursue her graduate studies at the San Francisco Art Institute. It was in San Francisco that she met artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman and began work on the documentary film project, !Women Art Revolution. She went on to become a Producer of the film, co-author of the !W.A.R. graphic novel (with Hershman and legendary Zap Comix artist Spain Rodriguez), and a 2011 Sundance New Frontier Artist collaborator with the new media installation, RAW/WAR.
Chowaniec received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2009, graduating with the Irene Pijoan Memorial Painting Award and Joan Mitchell Foundation, Headlands Centre for the Arts and Di Rosa Biennial MFA Selection nominations. She remained in San Francisco where she painted full-time, exhibited, taught at SFAI with the ACE program and continued production on the film. She received a SECA Award nomination from SFMOMA. Gallery representation in Montréal took her to the 2010 Toronto International Art Fair.
!Women Art Revolution was completed in the fall of 2010. Chowaniec joined the film for its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and made the move to New York for the MoMA premiere. !W.A.R. has the rare honor to have screened at TIFF, the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and the 2011 Berlinale.
Chowaniec is represented by Wall Space Gallery in Ottawa, ON and beaux-arts des amériques in Montréal, QC.
The BFA programme was always invested in finding ways to engage beyond our walls. My memories of the faculty include Carl Heywood's wisdom on strength of mind, body and spirit in the print studio, Prof W.'s passion for paint and her extensive, accompanying library, Prof S' integral introduction to contemporary female artists, Prof. R's meditations on the intersections of art, philosophy and psychology, and Prof. A's dedicated insights into one's own individual artistic practice. I remember the most interesting studio visits with visiting artists Ed Pien, Attila Richard Lukacs and Rebecca Belmore.
Artwork
Oil on panel
8" x 8"
2012
Oil on canvas
84" x 60"
2009