Alex is the Dean of MB painters having had a prolific career creating, teaching and winning much national recognition. He recently gave a reflective interview to TheArtsGrandStrand.org and these works and his comments are meant to be part of the interview. See his comments below, in order of the pictures.
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“6 Heads” detail A pretty woman with a funky hair style and a tough expression on her face. Pretty and tough are not supposed to go together, but, of course, they do. I love to see faces that have a special individual expression, just the right tilt of the head and interesting lighting on the face. That blows my hair back!
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“My Favorite Drawing” This is not a good title for the drawing because, hopefully, I’ll do a better one later. I liked it because I liked every mark on the first ‘go’ at the drawing. It seemed just right to me, which is rare. There were no marks that I wished to touch up.
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Book cover: “Painting People in Watercolor” The picture here is my 1989 book which was republished by Echo Point Books & Media, LLC in 2015. It is the same book with a better painting on the cover. I had Ivey Hale modelling for me and I had just photographed an old house. I combined the two. Ivey is a great model. She gives her all to each pose. She is largely responsible for any virtues this painting may have. I coordinated the color of her tights with the shadows of the house. I seldom paint a figure that realistically, but it seemed to work anyway. The only loosening up was on her lower leg that is on the ground. I used a trendy technique of the time. I sprinkled some salt into the shadows of the house to break them up a bit.
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“People 10” This is one of a series of 21 drawings that are 5 feet wide. I have done many drawing of single heads and that is okay, but they sometimes remind me of a portrait commission, which is done, not to please me, but to please the client. By lining up the heads, it shows the relationship among people, which is the most interesting art subject for me. The viewer can compare the expressions, moods and the types of faces. It’s like sitting in an airport “people-watching” – watching the world go by.
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“Not Faith” Groucho Marks, of all people, made the remark that he was never interested in trying to determine some sort of meaning about human’s lives in the world. I am the opposite. I am very philosophically interested in why we are here and what we are to do. I do know one thing. We are not here to live by the standards of a “made up” God.
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“Very Attractive” This drawing is special to me because it is made up only of lines. That does not seem to be a big deal, but it is to me. When I am looking at any visual media – magazine, TV, etc., I am always intrigued with anything that has lines in it. And especially if the lines are beautifully done. I want my drawing to be seen as lines first, or lines only, as is the case here. That does not seem to be a difficult goal to achieve, but after decades of training and experience of using non-liner shadowing to made forms move back and forward in space, and to draw and color in shapes, etc., it is difficult to “settle” for wimpy lines. But wide and skinny lines and dark and light line can be the most expressive of all.
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“What is Needed to be a Great Artist?” Antony Gormley, who is pictured here, is a living English sculptor. His text on the drawing is the best short summary of the history and meaning of art that I have ever read.
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“Impression Sunrise” by Claude Monet Paris France, in the 1800s, was one of the most artistically sophisticated cities in the world. And along come Monet with some brushy paint strokes to indicate the ripples in the slow moving water and the Paris art world went wild. Up until this time everything was painted with smooth realistic brush strokes. It seems silly to us today, but similarly, many of us are having the same problem with conceptual art, such as Andy Warhol’s “Campbell Soup Can”. Art is one of the most rapidly advancing enterprises in the country, and change is usually good. The art preceding French Impressionism was slow to change with its smooth realistic brush strokes, causing them to be shocked by Monet’s seemingly, simple realistic, but not smooth, brush strokes.
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“Campbell Soup Can” by Andy Warhol This Campbell Soup Can sitting on a pedestal as I walked into the Norfolk Virginia art museum in the early 1970s. My first reaction was that I can buy one down the street for 89 cents. This conceptual art piece ended artistic painting technique and threw all of the viewer’s attention to thought, just as it did for me. I think it changed, or ended, art and made art into philosophy.