Local artist brightens the Bronx
Alex ‘The Bronxer’ River is a graphic illustrator, author, designer and muralist
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The Bronx has been overdue
for a brighter, much
needed cultural renaissance,
according to one artist in
the borough.
He’s 27-year-old Alex “The
Bronxer” Rivera, the central
Bronx’s own graphic illustrator,
author, designer, muralist
and creative in just
about any other discipline
there could be — and it has
been The Bronxer’s mission
to literally bring enlightenment
into his home.
That recent vivid awakening
has come by way of a
“journey” of vividly done
wall murals throughout
the borough, various beer
can designs with the Bronx
Brewery and two bilingual
children’s books, “Bronx
Tones” and “Bronx Shapes”
among other unique and
elaborate enterprises.
In his own words, these
projects have juxtaposed the
Bronx’s “dull, monochromatic
scenes against a vivid
array of colors” and has been
reinventing the borough’s
perspective on happiness.
“What is happiness in the
Bronx? It’s not the wrongful
perception of liquor or drugs
but instead, unique individualism
and perhaps a new
way of thinking, an ideal
which my work promotes,”
Rivera said. Everyone is art
and it’s time to bridge the
gap between a plethora of
untapped potential in the
Bronx and other places have
which become overshadowed
by what appears underseen
and overlooked.”
That’s what served as The
Bronxer’s inspiration to use
hot-toned “Miami colors,”
which “are chosen to emanate
difference” and show
the borough in a new, glowing
color pallet that has
seldom shown up in past
times around the Bronx’s
open spaces.
Though Rivera said the
Bronx’s natural, urbanistic
state is critical to his
artistic work.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,36 NOV. 27-DEC. 3, 2020 BTR
It is those “hood colors”
which provide inspiration
for contrasted murals
and other works, just like
at his painted gate outside
Boogie Down Grind Cafe in
Hunts Point.
That’s a project which
demonstrated more than just
“hood colors” but also some
“brick by brick” history as
a longstanding building,
he said.
“While working on this
gate, I noticed it still has a
bullet hole puncture from
many years ago and that’s
when I truly began to wonder
about all this corner has
seen over the years and how
it’s future will change, hopefully
for the better through
the intercession of art,”
Rivera said.
For the Bronx to undergo
a cultural change for the better,
Rivera believed that his
home needs more local art
neighborhood by neighborhood
to show residents that
“creativity doesn’t only happen
in Brooklyn and Manhattan,
but also and especially
right here in our home.”
To support that initiative
of “creative equality,” he
founded his own company,
The Bronxer LLC, which acts
as a platform to “uplift and
encourage” aspiring artists
whom have not yet appeared
in a large cultural spotlight,
many of whom are from
the Bronx.
More independently, The
Bronxer continues his robotic
themed works which
bring a “fresh taste of current
and constant nostalgia”
in various mediums,
the most popular being
detailed illustrations.
He is also continuing
some detailed hushed works
throughout Miami, Florida
and on the island of
Puerto Rico, projects which
will be more feasible in a
post-pandemic world.
Until then, The Bronxer
continues to inspire a
fresh and original perception
of the Bronx and its
art culture.
The Bronxer’s work
can be seen and followed
on two separate Instagram
pages: @thebronxer
and @thebronxer.art.
Alex ‘The Bronxer’ Rivera
Photo by Ashanti Muñiz/@CreateShanti
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