There are artists whose work inspires one of two reactions in me– either I want to strive to be even a fraction as good as they are or I want to throw my brushes down and never pick them up again.  Russian-born Philadelphia based artist Alex Kanevsky, with his painterly style and beautiful light is just such an artist.

Kanevsky’s work has this amazing sense of chaos and freedom, as if these were dashed off quickly as the artist moved on to the next canvas.  Yet each piece is a carefully composed, heavily layered composition, his process often taking weeks or even months of immersion into and retreating from each painting.  Are there stories being told?  Perhaps.  But more than  mere narrative speculation is the feeling each piece projects– sadness, desolation, satisfaction.

If you’d like to see more of Alex Kanevsky‘s incredible work, please visit his website.  Be sure to check out his fascinating Progress page in which he shares sequences of paintings in various stages of progress!

All images via the artist’s website.