Exhibition Dates: October 6 – October 27, 2012
Opening Reception: Saturday, October 6 from 6 – 9 pm (in conjunction with “Art for Arts’ Sake”)
Gallery Location: 432 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70130
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10 am – 5 pm
Contact Info: 504.522.1999; www.arthurrogergallery.com
Seven Spanish Angels, 2012. Oil on canvas, 96 x 76 inches.
The Arthur Roger Gallery is pleased to present “Recent Observations,” an exhibition of paintings and drawings by John Alexander. The exhibition will be on view at Arthur Roger Gallery, located at 432 Julia Street, from October 6 – October 27, 2012. The gallery will host an opening reception with the artist in attendance, Saturday, October 6 from 6-9 pm in conjunction with “Art for Arts’ Sake.”
John Alexander has been described as painting “nature at its grandest and man at his worst.” Born in Beaumont, Texas in 1945, he retains vivid memories of expeditions with his father, during which he discovered the exotic wildlife of the swampy marshlands of the bayou and the Gulf Coast. Though he has lived in New York for over thirty years, he finds that his mind still wanders back to the environment in which he grew up – the wetlands of Texas and Louisiana are engrained in his psyche. This exhibition of new paintings and works on paper embodies his continued passion for wildlife, flora and fauna, and the detail found within.
After completing an MFA in 1970 at Southern Methodist University, Alexander moved to Houston and became a member of the art faculty of the University of Houston. In the late 70s, Alexander left Texas for New York, first SoHo and later Amagansett on the south shore of Long Island. The artist settled there in an 18th century farmhouse on three acres of land by the coast.
In late 2007, Alexander had a major retrospective of his work first shown at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and then in spring 2008 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston. In 2012, “One World, Two Artists: John Alexander and Walter Anderson” was exhibited at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.