I came to Los Angeles to act. That's not what this is about.
But something happened.
It taught me to feel honestly without being afraid of it. To see what's right in front of me. To be open to it, affected by it, and to let that reach another person.
To live truthfully. To be human.
To be myself.

I came to Los Angeles to be someone else, anybody else, and instead I became who I am.

So I went back to the beginning. Drawing was the language I was born with. The way I always knew how to tell a story. I did it my whole childhood without knowing why.

I had stopped for ten years.

But it came back. It came back fast. It had teeth, and I wanted more. I wanted color. I wanted paint.

A class at the Atelier of Fine Art opened the door. After that, a lot of canvas and a lot of nights teaching myself the rest.

The pandemic hit. The world went quiet. The nights got longer. I painted through most of it, making mistakes, occasionally getting something right.

Inside of a few years I went from a beginner with a brush to selling my work, winning awards, and showing internationally - from Southern California to Manhattan, and Spain.

And I’m grateful.

My name is Alex. I paint contemporary realism. I paint to express myself. Because it’s who I am.

-Alex Tabet