AMSET to host book signing by John Alexander

Monday, 21 January 2008 23:18

Beaumont, Texas - The Art Museum of Southeast Texas will host a book signing event in honor of internationally renowned artist and Beaumont native John Alexander at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 8.
 
Alexander will be returning to his roots and where the inspiration for his art began and presenting his new book, John Alexander: A Retrospective, to share with friends, fans and fellow artists. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and for the artist to sign. In addition, a gumbo dinner prepared by celebrity artist/chef Bert Long Jr. and Two Magnolias will be served for $25 per person. Reservations are required for the dinner. The Jazz Innovators will perform musical entertainment to round out a wonderful event.
 
The exhibition, John Alexander: A Retrospective, is currently on view through March 16 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. and will then travel to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston to be on view April 13 through June 22. It is the first full-scale examination of the artist’s three-decade career. The exhibition includes powerful landscapes and intimate studies of birds and plants; it also presents many of his incisive, satirical commentaries on politics, religion and the human condition. The exhibition features 40 paintings and 27 works on paper.
 
The beautifully illustrated book includes essays by Jane Livingston, author and independent art historian who is the curator of the exhibition; Alison de Lima Greene, curator of contemporary art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Robert Hughes, art critic.
 
Alexander has been described as iconoclastic, irreverent and, at the same time, deeply compassionate. Early in his career, Alexander produced visionary landscapes and feverish drawings that incorporate elements of self-portraiture grounded in the imagery of his East Texas heritage. He taught at the University of Houston from 1972 to 1979, until he moved to New York. His work first took the national stage at the 1977 Corcoran Biennial in Washington; and in 1980, he returned to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, which held a major solo exhibition of his work. Alexander’s paintings and drawings have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States, Latin America and Europe, including France and Germany.
 
The Mission of the Art Museum of Southeast Texas is to provide education, inspiration and creative vision to the people of our culturally diverse region through our collections, exhibitions, public programs, and outreach in the visual arts.