Artist Alexander Okenyo – contemplative, creative … and great fun. Image courtesy of bettgallery.com.au

Tasmanian Artist Alexander Okenyo

I wandered down to one of my favourite coffee shops the other day. The owner, Tasmanian artist Alexander Okenyo, was on his hands and knees on the footpath.

It took a moment, but then I realised that he was just being Alex – contemplative, creative, fun-loving and a bit of a maverick!

Alex recently challenged me. ” Every time you come for coffee, I ask if you want a double shot, and you say no. Then you come back and ask for a second shot.” I told Alex, ” Customer privilege!”

That is the fun vibe in this favourite haunt. The hum of devotees browsing the books, coffee tragics lining up for their daily fix of great coffee, and the good natured banter with Alex.

Coffee, books and art

Alex is businessman, bookshop & coffee shop owner/operator and well-known Tasmanian artist.

On this day, Alex is on his knees scratching a favourite quote into newly laid cement. This is Alex the creative, Alex the maverick – not one to let a good slab of wet cement go to waste!

The Bett Gallery’s on Alex tells the story

Alexander Okenyo’s paintings and drawings patiently seek, hold and focus our attention. Each careful line is a counting stroke, a scratch to mark a passing. And from a distance, the marks effect a soft glow, a pale, cool light, as the artist tends to time intentionally spent.

Monotonal and meditative, Okenyo’s subjects are simple and silent. A bowl that catches the last light on its rim, an apple, an eye, a field of flowers in darkness. Partial figures caught in a moment of rest, repose or death; stillness is paramount to the image and instructive to the viewer.

There is a haunting though in all of this quiet: Okenyo singles out the fractured part as if under the blue light of an x-ray. The artist’s radiative attention to detail, painting as examination, mark making as exposure. But the discovery is stayed within the image as stillness descends like darkness.

Think you have heard the name? You probably have.

Alex became a bit of a 15 minute celebrity (he would laugh at the idea) in 2022. Annabelle Crabb launched a nationwide search for her ‘napkin artist’.

You can read the whole story here

It is a fun and charming story, but I think that more telling is what it says about Alex. It is typical of him that he would grab a creative moment and then share it.

The webpage for his book (& coffee) shop is blackswanbookshop.com.au

If you look at the bottom corner of the website you will see

Vivamus pulchritudinis.

Live in beauty.

Alex’s choice.