:: Alexander Gate Bio ::

Sacred path through 30 year exploration of the face form, led to discovering :: Mystik Mask Art ::

At a very young age, Alex spent a year by the Egyptian temples of Alexandria and Cairo, which had a profound impact on his view of the world and his interest in art and philosophy. While growing up on the island of Losinj in the Adriatic Sea, he started to draw in ways that led to an intuitive style that would keep returning throughout his life. From abstract to mystical realism, it was always about the face. In the end, Alex surrendered to his true calling, and began to draw from the place where art and soul meet to create and inspire.

Through the High School for Industrial Design and the University of Art, Academy of Applied Arts and Design, Alex's skills and experience were developing, and a knowledge on alternative sciences and ancient cultures grew as a personal interest. After the university, he was involved in the architectural industry, illustration and graphic design. His love for graphic symbols and the message they convey through their design, Alex always regarded as an important step in his growth as an artist. All this time black ink drawings kept coming back, as a creative and intuitive contact with his soul. Still not conscious of that deep connection, he went on with his life, working from Belgrade, Serbia, Paris, France, Boston, Massachusetts, to Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he settled for the last 18 years, with his wife and two daughters. Closeness of the pristine nature to their home on the Capilano River Canyon, triggered the abstract phase in drawings and paintings, that were in the last year and a half transformed into Mystik Mask creations.

Mystik Masks started as mystical, graphic face-like symbols with an ancient cultural feel. Alex decided to create a drawing and write a note with it every day, and he didn’t miss a single day for more than 500 drawings [at 546 at the moment]. As the exploration of the face form went through the phases, drawings eventually became too complex in detail to finish them in a single day. Next step happened when in preparing for the exhibition, Alex transferred one of the drawings to the 48" x 48" canvas and created a new level Mystik Masks are presented. So far through more than 500 art pieces, evolution from a simple symbol to a complex rendering of the human face transformed with inked patterns of organic forms, represents Alexander Gate’s way of seeing and expressing the uniqueness of every human being. Mystik Masks are created in the form of acrylic ink drawings and acrylic paintings on canvas from 5”x 5” up to 48”x 48” in size.

Alex exhibited in Canada and Serbia in solo and group art shows and his art is present in corporate and private collections throughout the world.......

Websites: mystikmask.com alexgate.net mystikmaskart.com