Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow

VIVID WORKS TACKLE CLIMATE CHANGE, FRAGILE ECOSYSTEMS, EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, MORE



Columbus, OH—Previously on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow will travel to the Wexner Center for the Arts September 16–December 30, 2011. The exhibition is the first major survey of the artist's work, with nearly 40 paintings that trace his career from early works in the mid-1980s to 2009, including several of his monumentally scaled paintings.

Alexis Rockman (b. 1962) has been depicting the natural world with virtuosity and wit for more than two decades. He was one of the first contemporary artists to build his career around exploring environmental issues, from evolutionary biology and genetic engineering to deforestation and climate change. His work expresses deep concerns about the world's fragile ecosystems and the tension between nature and culture. These concerns are communicated through vivid, even apocalyptic, imagery. Rockman has garnered attention for embracing these issues, as well as for the epic quality of his projects.

The title of the exhibition, A Fable for Tomorrow, is taken from the opening chapter of Rachel Carson's influential 1962 book Silent Spring. In it, Carson combines two seemingly incompatible literary genres—mythic narrative and factual reportage. Rockman approaches his paintings with a similar intent. He achieves his vision through a synthesis of fantasy and empirical fact, using sources as varied as natural history, botanical illustrations, museum dioramas, science fiction films, realist art traditions dating back to the Renaissance, and firsthand field study.

"Rockman is no stranger to the Wexner Center," notes Sherri Geldin, the center's director. "Large-scale reproductions of two of the artist's wallscapes (Manifest Destiny and Evolution) were on view in the Wexner Center's lobby in the 2004–05 season, and he returned last year to participate in our annual Director's Dialogue on Art and Social Change: Climate and Culture. Alexis is a highly accomplished and respected figure whom we are delighted to welcome back to the center and to Ohio State, where environmental research permeates multiple academic disciplines."

The exhibition is organized by Joanna Marsh, The James Dicke Curator of Contemporary Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where it was on view November 19, 2010–May 8, 2011.

An opening event for this exhibition and the other fall shows will be held Thursday, September 15, 6–7:30 PM for members, and 7:30–9:30 PM for the general public; with media availability 4–6 pm (please contact Karen Simonian at 614-292-9923 or ksimonian@wexarts.org to schedule interviews).

Rockman will give a public talk on Tuesday, November 8 at 7 pm.

More about the exhibition

The works in A Fable for Tomorrow date from 1986 to 2009, and range in size from intimately scaled up to as large as 24 feet in length.

The exhibition includes three large-scale paintings that are ambitious turning points in Rockman's artistic development. Evolution (1992), his first mural-sized painting, is a panoramic sweep that owes as much to a pop cinema stylistic sensibility as it does to actual prehistory; it reflects Rockman's interests in evolutionary biology, cryptozoology, and genetic mutation. Manifest Destiny (2003–2004), commissioned by the Brooklyn Museum of Art, depicts an apocalyptic vision of the Brooklyn waterfront submerged as the result of global warming. South (2008), an epic panorama drawn from the artist's observations while on a trip to Antarctica, documents every aspect of iceberg geology through simultaneous views above and below the water's surface.

In 1994, Rockman journeyed into the dense South American jungle of Guyana; the painting Bromeliad: Kaieteur Falls (1994) represents this period, distinguished from Rockman's other work by his decision to paint only the flora and fauna found in the rain forest. Rockman returned to Guyana in 1998, when his previous interest in field observation was replaced by a fascination with pop-culture representations of ecotourism and the exotic allure of adventure travel. The resulting series, titled Expedition, includes paintings such as The Hammock (2000), which includes compositional elements that recall classic science fiction films. Rockman's new focus on abstraction and process is evident in the artist's most recent body of work, Half-Life, inspired by the techniques of Color Field artist Morris Louis (1912–1962) and dominated by large veils of viscous pigment and loose, improvisational brushstrokes.

More about Rockman

Rockman's work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe, Russia and Israel. He has been featured in solo exhibitions at the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington (2001), Camden Arts Centre in London (2004), and The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University (2008), among others. Group exhibitions include Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away organized by Damien Hirst at the Serpentine Gallery in London (1994), Into Me/Out of Me organized by Klaus Biesenbach at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, N.Y. (2006), and Badlands at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass. (2008). He will be included in the 2011 Prospect.2 New Orleans, organized by Dan Cameron, director of visual arts for the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans.

His paintings are in many public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

As a child, Rockman spent endless hours exploring the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence and received a bachelor's degree in fine art from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Rockman has contributed to several publications and has taught courses at Columbia University and Harvard University. He lives and works in New York City. Rockman is represented by Waqas Wajahat in New York City and Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Colo.

Publication

The accompanying book, co-published by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and London-based D Giles Limited, is written by Marsh with contributions from Thomas Lovejoy, biodiversity chair at the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington, D.C., and Kevin J. Avery, senior research scholar at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as a foreword by Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Marsh’s essay weaves the themes of Rockman’s career and the history of America’s environmental movement into a cohesive narrative. Avery considers Rockman’s art historical references to 19th-century painting, while Lovejoy offers insights in the marriage of art and science in Rockman’s work. The book is for sale at the Wexner Center Store for $49.95.

Low-resolution press image selection

These images are provided exclusively to the press and may only be used for promotional purposes directly related to the corresponding Wexner Center for the Arts exhibition, or surrounding events. All reproductions must be accompanied by the proper credit line and copyright information provided below. Images must be reproduced as presented here and may not be distorted, mutilated, or cropped without permission. For hi-res images or more information, please contact Karen Simonian (614) 292-9923 or Tim Fulton (614) 688-3261.

Click each image to view.

1.	2.
Alexis Rockman Evolution, 1992 Oil on wood 96 x 288 in. The George R. Stroemple Collection © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist	Alexis Rockman Manifest Destiny, 2003-04 Oil and acrylic on wood 96 x 288 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist
3.	4.
Alexis Rockman Hollywood at Night, 2006 Oil on wood 64 x 96 in. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Davis © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist	Alexis Rockman South, 2008 Oil on gessoed paper 75 x 358 3/4 in. Collection of the Pappas Family, Boston © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist
5.	6.
Alexis Rockman Airport, 1997 Envirotex, digitized photograph, vacuum-formed Styrofoam with aluminum finish, Plasticene, oil paint, and Laughing Gull specimen on wood 65 x 44 x 4 1/2 in. Collection of Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist	Alexis Rockman The Reef, 2009 Oil and resin on wood panel 64 x 36 in. Collection of Pamela K. and William A. Royall, Jr., Richmond, Virginia © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist
7.	8.
Alexis Rockman Bromeliad: Kaieteur Falls, 1994 Oil and lacquer on wood 40 x 32 in. Nestlé USA © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist	Alexis Rockman Cataclysm, 2003 Oil and acrylic on wood 48 x 40 in. Collection of Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist
9.	10.
Alexis Rockman Biosphere: Orchids, 1993 Oil on wood 18 x 24 in. Collection of Chuck and Joyce Shenk © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist	Alexis Rockman The Hammock, 2000 Oil on wood 60 x 72 in. Collection of Ninah and Michael Lynne © Alexis Rockman Photo courtesy of the artist

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Exhibition and season support

Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, with generous support from the Cowles Charitable Trust, Kara and Wayne Fingerman, Dorothy Tapper Goldman, Barbara and Jonathan Lee, Nion McEvoy, Pamela K. and William A. Royall Jr., Holly and Nick Ruffin, Betty A. and Lloyd G. Schermer, Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins, and an anonymous donor. The C.F. Foundation in Atlanta supports the museum’s traveling exhibition program, Treasures to Go.

The Wexner Center’s fall exhibitions are made possible by a significant contribution from Battelle.

All exhibitions and related events at the Wexner Center also receive support from the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members, as well as from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus Foundation, Nationwide Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council.

Promotional support is provided by Time Warner Cable.

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