Koncept KreativeConstructed Authenticity
Koncept KreativeConstructed Authenticity
The work of Kenneth M. Alexander: paintings, manuscripts and commissioned pieces made with a builder's care and a storyteller's honesty. Art that belongs in real homes, not just behind a rope.
It started in a garage in Athlone. Forty-two years of architecture taught the hand to be exact, to respect the line, the joint, the thing that has to hold. That care never left. It just found a new home on the canvas.
Self-taught as a painter, formally trained as a builder, Kenneth now spends his days documenting the people and the spirit of the Cape Flats, the place that made him.
My parents are, or were, classified as Coloured. Coloureds do not have a colour. You could be light-brown or dark-brown or brown or yellowish-brown or even white, but your hair, yes, your hair may be your downfall. In Pavement Specials, you can read all about my 'Hairitage'. Kenneth M. Alexander
A growing collection of work, priced to be lived with, not admired from a distance. See something you love? Send a message and Kenneth will get back to you.
The heart of the work. Read one of the books and the paintings stop being pictures; they become chapters. Here's a taste of each.
"Lastly, for everything these days, we must qualify to be deemed fit for the job. Should we not also qualify before getting married to see if we have what it takes to raise children because most times they pop up somewhere along the line? And just to throw that last punch, grandchildren follow children. You decide."
"Either a car gets me or some horrible animal sickness. Rabies, tick fever or hunger. I share a piece of cardboard under the moon with my best friend Johny Vuilvoete. But as they say, it's a dog's life this. I am not a dog, I am not a 'Pavement Special' or even a 'Weekend Special'."
"Their minds have been trained to know that they are superior to any black person. From day one, their superiority is drilled into them. Whites are people and Blacks are a mistake and Coloureds a By-Product of Sin."
"All is good until he falls off the wall, bumps his head leaving it cracked, breaks a leg while everyone comes and stares at him in a helpless state. Did he fall off the wall or did life just happen? Did circumstances perhaps push him off the wall? Was he unstable and why? Did he perhaps jump? Who knows? Who really knows? Does anyone really care about you?"
"Everyday life dictates my inspiration to capture a distinctive spirit prevalent in the Cape Flats from central Athlone to the outskirts of the city. As a self-taught artist, the only colour wheel that I know of is the one at Carnivals. NO LIMITS and NO BOUNDARIES."
On that wheel, blue equals your money, red doubles your money, and white swallows your money.
Stories from the drafting table to the first canvas.
What the city does to colour after 4pm, and why it matters.
Honest reflections on identity, history and home.
Want a piece that holds a particular history: a person, a place, a moment that matters to you? Kenneth takes on a small number of commissions each year.
Legacy is just history that someone cared enough to keep. Bring me yours.Kenneth M. Alexander
Studio & gallery, by appointment.
Western Cape, South Africa
Coastal workshop, by appointment.
Garden Route, South Africa