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A messy kind of magic Alex Kamaroff turns tape and paint into works of art at Glendale Brook Studio in Lenox, Mass. Alex Kamaroff ’s painting technique is simple but maddeningly difficult. He creates magic using only artist’s tape, acrylic paint and a hair dryer. That’s it. Come and watch him paint in his gallery, Glendale Brook Studio at 27 Church St. in Lenox, Mass., which he does most days and always on Saturdays. He loves to explain what he’s doing and is happy to demonstrate. What looks like a mess of different kinds of tape on a canvas interspersed with seemingly random flashes of paint becomes a vivid, exciting work of art when the tape is pulled away. This style is called “hard edge” because the tape creates precise and distinct edges. Visitors are fascinated by the process, and kids are allowed to try it. They learn right away that it’s a lot harder than it looks, but they love finding that out. Now flash back to New York City in 1958. Alex was a little boy. He would take the train in from Long Island (back then, kids could do that alone) and meet his grandmother in Penn Station. From there they would go to the Museum of Modern Art, at his request. Grandma Ethel, a feisty lady who ignored bus fare for children (Him? He has no money!) would sit patiently on a bench for hours while her rambunctious grandson ran around, soaking up the priceless works of art that were all around him. He didn’t know they were priceless. He didn’t know that he was in a famous place. He only knew that he was mesmerized by what he saw, and that it felt like a second home. Following a fruitful career as a novelist, an innate talent came out of its shell and began to take over. It happened when Alex spilled a can of paint and became fascinated with how it moved.
