A graduate from Art Center College of Design and The Claremont Graduate School, Couwenberg worked under the guidance of Karl Benjamin, one of the leading figures in the southern California based school of Hard-edge geometric abstraction. Benjamin was instrumental in the early development of Couwenberg's painting style, process and philosophy. A southern California native, Couwenberg naturally embraced the sensibility of his birth place and applied it to his art making practices. By instilling the discipline and rigor associated with the fundamentals of painting and abstract language, the paintings began to mature and develop an aesthetic voice unique to Couwenberg. The vocabulary references the dedication toward craft, process and the progression of concepts and techniques.

Couwenberg's paintings have been shown in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. His work can be found in numerous public, private, corporate and museum collections around the world. Couwenberg was awarded the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for his achievements in painting and was recently featured as the subject of Los Angeles based film maker Eric Minh Swenson's film MANA, which focuses on the artist's life and studio practice in Los Angeles. Couwenberg recently exhibited a body of paintings in a two person show along with his mentor Karl Benjamin. The show was part of the Getty Museum's Pacific Standard Time project highlighting southern California artists and their contributions towards art making.