The richly detailed figurative oil paintings of Alex Blas’ exhibition, titled “In Your Room,” capture contemporary subjects rendered in lovely, detailed, traditional portraiture. Blas asked his friends to pose, placing them in everyday settings. “I asked them not to change anything, not to clean up, dress up, or pose,” the artist relates. The results are startlingly beautiful and possess a universal appeal that reveals youthful subjects, primarily men, in easily identifiable circumstances. Blas’ friends sprawl on a sofa, study a laptop in bed, towel themselves dry after a shower, and are caught in the moment of getting dressed. These intimate and graceful images are filled with light and life, with even the smallest detail — a record album, empty beer bottles, tangerines in a bowl or the fabric on a faded arm chair — rendered with full attention to detail. We are able to experience intensely personal and private moments that are shared with grace.
