A PEEK INTO BRENNAN ALEXA'S PRINT-MAKING PROCESS
You may recognize Brennan Alexa as the model for one of Honolulu’s popular florists (often posing with gorgeous tropical flora), or from working at Kakaako’s coolest cafe, Arvo, but these days the multimedia creative is also busy making art. We caught up with her for a peek inside her Palolo abode, and to talk about her print-making process, the pandemic and more.
For digital artist Brennan Alexa, inspiration is found in a variety of sources that are evident in her rich, layered pieces: color, texture, women, and Matisse. She was surrounded by the French artist’s cutouts growing up, and she’s always striving for his sense of simplicity in her work. “But I’m a very complicated, colors-everywhere, everything-together kind of a person,” she laughs.
Originally from Connecticut, Brennan started making digital art in 2016 when she moved back home to help her mother when she was sick. At the time, she couldn’t afford the paper that she’d previously used in printmaking in college, so she turned to a different trusty resource: Google. She found photos of papers she liked online, and began creating collages of women and abstract forms on her computer.
After multiple visits to a friend, Brennan fell in love with Hawaii, and three years ago she made the move official. An airy, light-filled unit in the middle of Palolo Valley is what she calls home and where she was quarantined during the pandemic. It was during this turbulent time that she went back to her art-making roots. “The theme of quarantine for me was exploring the internal self, and figuring out who she is and what she wants,” says Brennan. She made her first piece, entitled Rio Abajo Rio, and was pleasantly surprised by the positive reaction she got after posting it. So was born her online store.
Making art digitally has had its advantages. It produces a lot less waste, which is in line with Brennan’s ethos to be more sustainable when creating. “Because I live on this island, I try my best not create a lot of trash or waste,” says Brennan. “What we need already exists.” Instead of custom-making frames, she finds frames she likes and custom makes prints to fit the frames. Even her packaging is made from leftover cardboard found on the street. She’s also found that the process of creating many layers in Photoshop necessary to make her pieces leads to inevitably moving or deleting a few—and produces the same sort of happy accidents that happen when making art the analog way. Finding a local printer also helped bring that tangible, textural quality to her work and the printer’s papers in turn inspire Brennan to create more.
Brennan’s pieces—a tangle of organic shapes in earthy tones like ochre and burnt sienna, punctuated with eggplant and electric blues that are as striking as their maker—now grace the homes of the island’s influencers. You won’t want to take your eyes off of this one—she’s hoping to expand her line to wearable art shortly.
