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'Where art resides': George Alexander blends sci-fi, abstractions to create a conversation
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The figure straddling a horse dons an astronaut鈥檚 helmet amid a landscape of chamisa and cholla.
George Alexander鈥檚 acrylic painting is much more than some kind of interstellar joke. To him, the image represents humanity鈥檚 search for God and connection.
'Where art resides': George Alexander blends sci-fi, abstractions to create a conversation
鈥淲hen the astronaut looks at the world, they don鈥檛 see religion, they don鈥檛 see race; they don鈥檛 see anything that would separate you from your neighbor,鈥� said the Muscogee (Creek) artist.
Alexander will show his work at next weekend鈥檚 102nd Santa Fe Indian Market. The annual event lures upwards of 100,000 people to the Santa Fe Plaza and its tributaries seeking jewelry, pottery, sculpture, painting, weaving and more. Visitors can also view traditional dancers, fashion shows and nearby food booths for breakfast burritos and fry bread.
Alexander grew up in Mason, Oklahoma, the son of a Muscogee (Creek) minister father and a white mother who served as the Sunday school director.
The urge to put pencil to paper emerged when both of his parents were sick in the hospital. Alexander鈥檚 mother gave him some copy paper and a No. 2 pencil.
鈥淢y parents were very sick,鈥� the Santa Fe artist said. 鈥淢y mom had high blood pressure and my dad had heart failure.
鈥淲henever they were in the hospital, I would sit there and draw because there wasn鈥檛 much else to do. I would try to draw my favorite cartoon characters.鈥�
They both died when Alexander was 14.
He would go on to draw in his high school cafeteria, a skill that helped him make friends who asked for a picture of their current crush.
After graduation, Alexander wanted to join the Marines but a diagnosis of a small hole in his heart prevented it. Then an aunt told him about Santa Fe鈥檚 Institute of American Indian Arts.
It would change his life.
鈥淚AIA is probably the most important place in my life,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verything I do now I owe to IAIA. I鈥檝e made life-long friends; they support me even today.鈥�
Those friends included the legendary painter Tony Abeyta, who mentored him.
It was at IAIA that Alexander learned the spiritual history of his own tribe.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know anything about my own heritage,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat I did know came from the Christian influence. We already had a monotheistic spirituality, that way of looking at things. When the Europeans came, they didn鈥檛 see us as that different from them. We were known as one of the 鈥榗ivilized鈥� tribes.鈥�
When Alexander arrived at IAIA, he didn鈥檛 know how to express himself because he didn鈥檛 want to be seen as different. He had recently watched the 2014 movie 鈥淚nterstellar,鈥� so he decided to go sci-fi.
He found an astronaut鈥檚 helmet on eBay, marking the beginning of his astronaut series.
At first, Alexander thought of the figure as a metaphor for God. After seeing the work at a critique, an IAIA colleague told him the painting was about humanity searching for God.
Today Alexander鈥檚 work consists of his astronaut cowboys, and what he calls his 鈥淣eo Flat Style,鈥� 鈥淚dentity鈥� and 鈥淧art of the Heard鈥� series.
His 鈥淣eo Flat Style鈥� series references the Santa Fe Indian School paintings produced under Dorothy Dunn in the 1930s. He embellished two flat style paintings of bison with his own abstractions.
鈥淚 like to work in various different styles,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y main goal is to get better than I did previously.鈥�
He鈥檚 focusing on a pair of Creek warriors for Indian Market, beginning with Osceola, whose mother was Muscogee. When Osceola was a child, the family moved to Florida after the tribe鈥檚 1814 defeat in the Creek Wars.
In 1832, a few Seminole chiefs signed the Treaty of Payne鈥檚 Landing, by which they agreed to give up their Florida lands in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River. According to legend, Osceola stabbed the treaty with his knife.
Alexander is also working on a portrait of Chitto Harjo, a leader of the Crazy Snakes, a traditionalist faction of the Creek Indians. He opposed federal incursions on reservation land.
鈥淗e was accused of stealing a piece of meat off a farmer鈥檚 land,鈥� Alexander said. 鈥淭hey sent the National Guard after him.鈥�
The artist plans to bring about 10 large paintings, 15 smaller paintings and about 3 medium-sized paintings to Indian Market.
On Sept. 20, he鈥檒l do a pop-up show in Los Angeles.
After graduating from IAIA, Alexander studied in Italy at the Studio Arts College International in Florence.
It was there that he learned about art as conversation.
鈥淎rt isn鈥檛 to make art the object itself,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut how you perceive the object. You can have 20 million conversations about a pop bottle 鈥� the contents, the space around it. That conversation is where art resides.鈥�
