Pure Inspiration from Denmark

October 12, 2015

In the past few years, I have become a collector and friend of the artist Alexander Tovborg. This past Saturday Alexander taught a master class for our Advanced Teen Artists @ One River School. Watching Alexander work with our teens took me back to the very premise I had four years ago when I conceived this place. I wanted to create something cool and cultural in our backyard and to extract some of the world leading culture that existed in the city and bring it to the suburbs. At the time, I didn’t know that city would be Copenhagen!

Let me tell you how I met Alexander. Back in 2013, I was walking through the Frieze Art Fair and saw a painting that nearly punched me in the face. It was made by a young Danish painter named Alexander Tovborg and the painting had a mystical quality that made me feel as if it could have been made yesterday or 1,000 years ago. Shortly thereafter, Tovborg did a residency in Brooklyn and I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon at his studio. That afternoon remains one of my most compelling personal experiences with art to date.

This is what art is supposed to do. Stimulate. Inspire.Compel. Take a look at our Facebook album for photos and a cool video of Alexander’s visit and read more about him here. Our students will never forget the time they got to spend with him this past weekend. And I will never forget watching them engage and challenge themselves to think differently.

Matt Ross

Matt Ross is the Founder of One River School of Art + Design. Since 2012, One River has grown from one location in Englewood, NJ to fifteen schools in six states with a goal to “transform art education” across America. Prior to One River School, Matt was the CEO of School of Rock, where he built the company into the world leader in music education for kids. Prior to his experience with School of Rock, Matt held a variety of management positions in broadcasting, working for diverse media companies such as Clear Channel, CBS and Viacom. He is also active in promoting Autism awareness and supporting emerging artists and is passionate about collecting Contemporary Art with a focus on painting, mixed media and drawing.