They say you can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. For painter Alex Kamaroff, it’s a lifelong love for art history—references to Kandinsky, Mondrian, and other greats of the Midcentury period—that you’ll find splashed across his bold, dynamic canvases.

His love of art began at a young age with frequent trips with his grandmother to the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim, and he went on to earn his art history degree at Columbia. After he graduated, however, his world turned toward the literary arts. For over 30 years, he was a prolific author and a talent scout for his wife Irene Goodman’s New York City literary agency.

Then, 10 years ago, he spilled a can of paint while at home in the Berkshires and his career as a visual artist was born. Taken with the way the paint moved and created patterns, he picked up a brush and began painting.

Alex Kamaroff at work

Today, he’s become a master of the bold, geometric abstraction of hard edge painting, a reference itself to artists like Ellsworth Kelly and Frank Stella who popularized the form. Kamaroff learned the style from his late friend and mentor, James Hendricks, a renowned abstract painter and sculptor who lived in Northampton and whose work had been exhibited at the Smithsonian. Kamaroff’s hard edge process is exacting—involving thousands of rolls of tape that he uses to define his artwork before paintbrush ever hits canvas.

"Carnival" by Alex Kamaroff

In the last decade, the self-taught artist has sold over 100 paintings, many of which hang in local shops and restaurants. In May of 2018, he and his wife opened the Glendale Brook Studio in Lenox to exhibit his work. There, you’ll find an array of his magnetic, colorful paintings lining the walls, offering anyone the chance to take home an original piece of art for their home or business that has the air of a masterpiece with a newfound twist.

Glendalebrookstudio.com

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