Alex Bierk: A Thin Place

Misty roads, fading sunlight, glowing windows, strings of plastic stars. Ordinary subjects, painted with the restraint of Chardin and the flickering light of Corot and small enough to fit in a briefcase. Each carries the emotional intensity of a memory you can’t quite forget.

Recovery moves through the work without announcing itself. A close-up from Bill’s Story, highlighted in orange. A fragmented view of the Twelve Steps, seen as if you’ve looked up from your seat in a meeting room. An image of a train rushing toward you through a thick fog, headlights beaming. Is it a light at the end of the tunnel? A disaster waiting to strike? That’s for you to decide.

The thing is: you don't have to choose one or the other. These paintings are about what becomes available when you start looking deeply, stop trying to figure everything out, and surrender to the brief, gorgeous business of being a person who is awake, alive, and paying attention.

Alex Bierk (b. 1985 in Ontario, lives and works in Peterborough, just outside Toronto) is the son of a painter. He builds his paintings from photographs taken while moving through everyday life. Alongside his studio practice, he serves on Peterborough City Council, focusing on housing insecurity and addiction support. That commitment to helping people at life’s turning points runs straight through his paintings.