This is Amer Kobaslija’s first exhibition with the gallery. Featured are small- to large-scale painted representations of artist studios on Plexiglas and wooden panels. Among them include his own studio, those of friends, as well as those of famous artists Balthus and Jackson Pollock.
At 69, John Alexander has lived an extraordinary life. He sails the Caribbean with rocker Jimmy Buffett and counts among his other pals such Saturday Night Live luminaries as Lorne Michaels and Dan Aykroyd, his partner in a prosperous venture that serves vodka in skull-shaped drinking vessels. He spends his summers on Amagansett, Long Island, but for 35 years has occupied a SoHo loft in New York City, where he long ago established a reputation as a mesmerizing artist, one with a social conscience.
Lin Emery’s kinetic sculptures epitomize that kind of timeless and finely tuned consistency. But like the timeless, pristine miracles of the natural world on which they are based, they can be easy to take for granted — unless something changes, as appears to be the case in her current show at Arthur Roger Gallery.
John Alexander nearly presses his nose against a charcoal image of a lobster and laughs when he says looking into the drawing’s eyes reminds him of his dog. We’re in the downstairs gallery where a series of drawings serve as a prelude to the exhibition at the Meadows Museum, Human/nature. The Ridiculous and Sublime: Recent Works by John Alexander. Alexander jokes in his rich Texan drawl that his assistant had to explain to him what “prelude” meant. Certainly these beautiful, mysterious charcoal drawings of deceptively simple subjects — the lobster, an array of lily pads, a jellyfish and oyster shells — set the tone for the paintings that follow.
Courtney Egan discusses her January 2015 exhibition Circulation of Light at the Arthur Roger Gallery.
Dawn DeDeaux discusses her January 2015 exhibition Does Anyone Remember Laughter? Lost Landscapes and Lonely Men at the Arthur Roger Gallery.
In anticipation of his May 2015 exhibition at Arthur Roger Gallery, Coastal Paintings, artist David Bates discusses his work and processes with Arthur Roger.
Erwin Redl discusses his January 2015 exhibition Random Precision in the Metric of Time at the Arthur Roger Gallery.
John Alexander is being honored with an exhibition of his work at the Meadows during the museum’s 50th anniversary year and the university’s centennial. “Human/nature. The Ridiculous and Sublime: Recent Works by John Alexander” opens next Sunday and continues through June 28. The show’s 35 paintings and drawings are on loan from 26 lenders, including 12 in Texas.
