ALEXIS ROCKMAN A FABLE FOR TOMORROW
wexner center for the arts wexner center for the arts
Evolution, 1992 Oil on wood 96 x 288 inches Collection of George R. Stroemple
INTRODUCTION When the Smithsonian American Art Museum was organizing its midcareer retrospective of Alexis Rockman in 2010, they titled the exhibition A Fable for Tomorrow. As curator Joanna Marsh would clarify in the catalogue, the phrase invokes the opening chapter of Rachel Carson’s 1962 book, Silent Spring, a lyrical yet sobering call to arms in the face of humanly produced ecological disorder that became the inaugural manifesto of the modern environmental movement. Aligning Rockman’s painterly practice to Silent Spring (published the year the artist was born) thus strongly affirms some of the central preoccupations his work has been exploring for over twenty-five years, which include a fascination with how the natural world looks, how the inhabited world looks, and what the collision of the two might look like. Rockman is a passionate close observer, his instincts spurred by native curiosity, which leads him to render beyond what’s observable, imagining different scenarios and worlds elsewhere. In that respect, the
title A Fable for Tomorrow serves the doublepurpose of calling attention to Rockman’s status as a fabulist, a teller of tales, evident in the extraordinarily suggestive sense of a narrative situation many of his paintings convey. Displayed for the most part chronologically, with paintings arranged in series from 1986 through 2009, the threedozen individual works on view testify to Rockman’s abidingly ethical obligation to converse with the visible world—to venture outward (expeditions to Guyana, to Antarctica, and elsewhere) and then return to issue a report, imaginatively embellished. Rockman’s paintings, often theatrically scaled, ideally presuppose the existence of a public and of a public sphere, where conversation might be nourished; his pictures tell his stories. But alongside that, and inseparable from it, runs Rockman’s conversation with the traditions of painting whose legacies his own work happens to be sustaining in full force—traditions related to the still life (nature morte), large-scale landscape
views, fieldwork drawings and scientific illustrations, evolutionary dioramas as encountered in natural history museums, imagery derived from science fiction, and nineteenth-century panoramic mural forms. The range of his vision extends from the virtually microscopic to the intergalactic, and what brings that range into a unified and bracing whole are Rockman’s literally prodigious gifts as a painter. For him, painting offers a pathway to follow in order to apprehend the visible and barely visible world; painting gives him a way of seeing and a way of narrating. Rockman enjoys wide recognition as a visual artist for his astonishingly elaborated fidelity to the state of the natural world, not excluding speculative fantasies on its dystopic near-futures. That’s fair enough an estimation, as far as it goes, but that’s not far enough. Simultaneously out of yet entirely of his time, Rockman remains a provocative and singular figure among his contemporaries. He is irreducibly nothing if not a “painter of modern life,” as Baudelaire
first sketched that character, the drifting harbinger of contemporary aspiration: “The first thing to note is this: that curiosity may be considered the starting point of his genius…. I would confer on him the title of philosopher, to which he has a right for more than one reason; but his excessive love of visible, tangible things, in their most plastic form, inspires him with a certain dislike of those things that go to make up the intangible kingdom of the metaphysical. Let us be content to consider him as a pure pictorial moralist….” 1 Bill Horrigan Wexner Center Curator at Large
1. Charles Baudelaire, “The Painter of Modern Life,” 1863. Originally published in Le Figaro, a daily newspaper in Paris, Baudelaire’s article has appeared in numerous English translations. The passages quoted here come from several different translations.
Object of Desire, 1988 Oil and acrylic on canvas 48 x 40 inches Courtesy of the artist and Waqas Wajahat, New York
EARLY WORK Rockman’s paintings of the late eighties and early nineties evoke the aesthetic inspiration afforded by his boyhood visits to the American Museum of Natural History. Many of his early pictures borrow directly from museum displays and present a vision of nature as a site of primordial struggle. Pond’s Edge is one of Rockman’s first paintings inspired by a natural history subject: the Periophthalmus or mudskipper. A precise blue line delineates sky from water, allowing us to see the animal from both above and below the water’s edge. This compositional device is a signature of Rockman’s work, providing a means to simultaneously represent terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The natural chain of animal consumption reaches its apogee in Object of Desire as the body of a small mammal is overwhelmed by a mass of green beetles. The dripping paint and disintegration
of form create a visceral sense of natural consumption and introduce two recurring themes in Rockman’s early work: the inexorable cycle of life and death, and the inevitable march from proliferation to decay. Evolution, the artist’s first monumental painting, is a riveting summation of his early work, an inventory of images and ideas nurtured since childhood and laid out over four vivid panels. The compositional format references the planar structure of dioramas, while the imagery reflects Rockman’s interests in evolutionary biology, taxonomy, time lines, and widescreen cinema. The painting also alludes to iconic nineteenth-century works from the Hudson River school, in particular the dramatic landscapes of Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Cole, and Thomas Moran.
Biosphere: Tropical Tree Branch, 1992 Oil on wood 32 x 40 inches Marshall and Wallis Katz
BIOSPHERE Based on the film Silent Running (1972), an eco-thriller directed by Douglas Trumbull, the Biosphere paintings imagine an apocalyptic vision of the future in which flora and fauna must be jettisoned into space to preserve them from earth’s polluted environment. Each Biosphere painting depicts an exotic array of plants and animals from locations around the globe, like on a galactic Noah’s ark. Biosphere: Tropical Tree Branch shows creatures—a proboscis monkey, an anteater, an orange-and-blackstriped poison dart frog, and a beetle—arranged along a moss-covered tree branch. A distant whirling galaxy is visible through the spacestation window, an image repeated in Biosphere: Hydrographer’s Canyon.
Drainage Ditch: Georgetown, 1995 Oil on wood 60 x 100 inches Morris and Sherry Grabie, Los Angeles, California
GUYANA In 1994, Rockman journeyed into the South American jungle of Guyana and spent two months documenting the vast array of insect life that inhabits the equatorial rivers, streams, and forests. What distinguishes most of the Guyana pictures from Rockman’s previous work is their complete authenticity, the result of a self-imposed restriction to invent nothing and paint only the flora and fauna found in the rain forest. Despite their resolute fidelity to nature, Rockman’s Guyana works are no less haunting than his imagined scenarios.
In Drainage Ditch, Rockman transports us from the jungle interior to the Guyanese capital of Georgetown. Located on the Atlantic coast, three feet below high-tide level, the city depends on drainage canals to prevent flooding, but in many areas human and industrial debris obstruct the waterways. Rockman’s painting is divided into four quadrants, providing simultaneous views of a drainage canal and its environs during the day and at night.
URBAN JUNGLE In Rockman’s Diorama series, the ways that human society has impacted its cohabitating species are vividly imagined. In Airport, for instance, the clash between humans and nature becomes viscerally evident as a disoriented gull collides with a jet engine. Golf Course similarly reminds us that ecological decay lurks just below the surface of our most controlled environments. These images were constructed by adhering objects to a digital photograph and then applying layers of synthetic resin to create an impenetrable block. Each scene includes a range of media, from household trash and scientific models to taxidermy animals.
Airport, 1997 Envirotex, digitized photograph, vacuumformed Styrofoam with aluminum finish, Plasticene, oil paint, and Laughing Gull specimen on wood 56 x 44 x 4½ inches Collection of Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann
EXPEDITION In 1998, Rockman returned to Guyana, this time replacing the field observation of his earlier trip there with a fascination with pop-culture representations of eco-tourism. In the Expedition series, the verdant jungle becomes the backdrop for a human drama starring Rockman and his friends, as they camp, fish, and commune on the Essequibo River. In The Hammock, a tourist sleeps under the stars, oblivious to the perils around him. The glow of a lantern underscores the traveler’s romanticized notion of “getting back to nature.” A shotgun leans within arm’s reach but will do little to defend against the swarm of angry mosquitoes about to wreak havoc on the traveler’s exposed flesh.
The Conversation visualizes an imagined encounter between the artist and our extinct human ancestor, Australopithecus. This portrait references both the theories of Charles Darwin and the studies of American zoologist Dian Fossey, who lived and worked with mountain gorillas in Africa for nearly eighteen years. The allure of this bond between humans and primates is disrupted by the hunting rifle Rockman holds at the ready, reminding us that the idealized conception of fieldwork can be a tenuous illusion.
The Conversation 2001 Oil and acrylic on wood 72 x 84 inches Collection of Richard Edwards, Aspen, Colorado
ARTIFICIAL SELECTIONS Rockman has long been fascinated by the role humankind has played in the manipulation of species, from cross-species breeding and genetic engineering to the low-tech practice of literary invention. Rockman’s interest in these subjects appeared in the early 1990s. As advances in biotechnology and genetics have literally transformed our landscape, he has become increasingly concerned with how our future may look. Still Life depicts a Wolpertinger, a mythological creation fabled to inhabit Germany’s forests. Its body is an amalgam of anatomical traits from a rabbit, chicken, bird, and deer, and the image is reminiscent of seventeenth-century Dutch game
pictures, in which spoils from the hunt are presented as symbols of both prosperity and privilege. In The Farm, Rockman comments on the transformation of agricultural cultivation through genetic engineering. The scene is set in a soybean field, the soy plant being the most common genetically modified crop in the United States. The biotech revolution extends to livestock, and Rockman visualizes three familiar farm animals gradually altered via genetic modification.
The Farm, 2001 Oil and acrylic on wood 96 x 120 inches Joy of Giving Something, Inc.
Manifest Destiny, 2003–4 Oil and acrylic on wood 96 x 288 inches Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
MANIFEST DESTINY In its confrontation of the climate crisis and its human toll, Manifest Destiny is a fulcrum in Rockman’s career, a summation of past work and a signal of things to come. The painting depicts the Brooklyn waterfront several hundred years in the future, after global warming has ravaged and flooded the landscape. On the left, a futuristic suspension bridge lies beneath the elevated waters of the East River. The iconic
Brooklyn Bridge stands in ruinous decay on the far right, a victim of climate change and its own aging infrastructure. Yet within this postapocalyptic scene, the picture is teeming with organic growth, with the presence of local flora and fauna suggesting the adaptive power of nature and the promise that life will persist even if humanity does not.
AMERICAN ICONS Rockman continues his meditation on global warming in the American Icons series, where national landmarks and bastions of power are reduced to ruins. He imagines how the natural and built environment would look after the demise of the human population. The modern landmarks bear a striking resemblance to the monuments of ancient civilizations overtaken by time and nature. Conceived as a tribute to four presidents intent on protecting the American landscape, Mount Rushmore now appears all but drowned by the regressive effects of climate change as Rockman depicts the leaders nearly submerged in crystalline waters. The US Capitol is engulfed by a thick mound of vegetation, Disney World is shrouded in chilling fog, the Hollywood sign decays on its California hillside, and Rockman’s own childhood home on East 82nd Street has disappeared beneath a jungle of kudzu.
Hollywood at Night, 2006 Oil on wood 64 x 96 inches Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Davis
BIG WEATHER In the Big Weather paintings, colossal cloud formations, tornadoes, dust storms and hurricanes overwhelm the landscape, while man-made creations—oil derricks, rail tracks, and wind turbines—are rendered in detail along pencil-thin horizons. Rockman’s paintings here surge with unbridled energy, as if channeling the turbulence of his subject matter. Executed on heavily gessoed sheets of thick paper, the painted surface is awash in vivid stains, pours, pools, and drips. In Cataclysm, Rockman plays with scale as a swarm of insects appears on par with the apocalyptic destruction that it flees. Coming towards us, the insects consume our vision and block our view of the erupting volcano behind. The intense realism of bodies and limbs cropped
by the frame questions our ability to apprehend unpredictable natural forces. Rockman comments on the destruction caused by wildfires in Only You, invoking the catchphrase of Smokey the Bear, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” The painting depicts a massive conflagration inspired by the final scenes from Disney’s 1942 film Bambi. Rather than focusing on an adorable protagonist, however, Rockman illustrates the fate of insects that inhabit the forest. “I’m always fascinated by the things that are least considered,” he explains. “The things that are uncared for, unattractive, unlovable.”
Cataclysm, 2003 Oil and acrylic on wood 48 x 40 inches Collection of Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy
South, 2008 Oil on gessoed paper 75 x 358ž inches The Pappas Family, Boston
SOUTH In November 2007, Rockman traveled to the Antarctic Peninsula on a small expedition ship called The Endeavor. Accompanied by a team of guides and his partner Dorothy Spears, he spent twelve days exploring and documenting the socalled White Continent. The resulting painting, South, is an epic panorama of the artist’s voyage and the luminous polar landscape. The turbulence of the Big Weather paintings finds a calm counterpoint in the frozen stillness of South.
ABOUT THE ARTIST Alexis Rockman (b. 1962) 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 coedited Concrete Jungle (1996) with artist Mark Dion, and he has taught courses at Columbia and Harvard Universities. He lives and works in New York City. Rockman’s work has been exhibited in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Israel. Although A Fable for Tomorrow is the first major survey of Rockman’s work, his paintings have been featured in numerous solo presentations in galleries and museums, as well as in such group exhibitions as Some Went Mad, Some Ran
Away, organized by the Serpentine Gallery in London (1994); IntoMe/OutofMe, organized by MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, New York (2006); and Badlands at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts (2008). Rockman is also participating in the Prospect.2 New Orleans exhibition running from October 2011 through January 2012. His paintings are part of many public collections, including those of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, in Washington, DC, which organized this show.
EXHIBITION CHECKLIST EARLY WORK Amphibian Evolution, 1986 Oil and acrylic on canvas 64 x 96 inches Courtesy of the artist and Waqas Wajahat, New York Pond’s Edge, 1986 Oil and acrylic on canvas 60 x 112 inches Rubell Family Collection, Miami Object of Desire, 1988 Oil and acrylic on canvas 48 x 40 inches Courtesy of the artist and Waqas Wajahat, New York Evolution, 1992 Oil on wood 96 x 288 inches Collection of George R. Stroemple BIOSPHERE Biosphere: Tropical Tree Branch, 1992 Oil on wood 32 x 40 inches Marshall and Wallis Katz Biosphere: Orchids, 1993 Oil on wood 18 x 24 inches Chuck and Joyce Shenk Biosphere: Microorganisms and Invertebrates, 1993 Oil on wood 18 x 24 inches Carlos Brillembourg, Architect Biosphere: Hydrographer’s Canyon, 1994 Oil on wood 56 x 44 inches Andrea Feldman Falcione and Greg Falcione GUYANA Bromeliad: Kaieteur Falls, 1994 Oil and lacquer on wood 40 x 32 inches Nestlé USA Varzia, 1994 Oil, sand, leaves, and polymer medium on wood 84 x 72 inches Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, Museum Purchase, Gift of the Docent Committee and Bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Walter J. Wichgar
Bat Pursues Moth, 1995 Oil on wood 14 x 11 inches Collection of Dorothy Spears and Alexis Rockman, New York Drainage Ditch: Georgetown, 1995 Oil on wood 60 x 100 inches Morris and Sherry Grabie, Los Angeles, California Flies, 1995 Oil on wood 11 x 14 inches London Shearer Allen Juvenile Mantis on Bromeliad Leaf, 1995 Oil on wood 11 x 14 inches Katherine Dunn Water Droplet, 1995 Oil on wood 14 x 11 inches Barry Blinderman Drunken Bees, 1996 Oil on wood 14 x 11 inches Jay Gorney, New York URBAN JUNGLE Airport, 1997 Envirotex, digitized photograph, vacuum-formed Styrofoam with aluminum finish, Plasticene, oil paint, and Laughing Gull specimen on wood 56 x 44 x 4½ inches Collection of Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann Golf Course, 1997 Envirotex, digitized photograph, trash, oil paint, Astroturf, golf ball and club, soil, and cast plastic human femur on wood 40 x 32 x 4½ inches Collection of Ruth and Jacob Bloom, California EXPEDITION The Hammock, 2000 Oil on wood 60 x 72 inches Collection of Ninah and Michael Lynne
The Conversation, 2001 Oil and acrylic on wood 72 x 84 inches Collection of Richard Edwards, Aspen, Colorado Gymnorhamphichthcys Bogardus, 2001 Oil on wood 84 x 72 inches Collection of Bill and Maria Spears, New York ARTIFICIAL SELECTIONS Still Life, 1991 Oil on wood 40 x 48 inches Collection of Samuel and Ronnie Heyman, New York The Trough, 1992 Oil on wood 40 x 48 inches Museum of Sex, New York, Gift of the Peter Norton Foundation The Farm, 2001 Oil and acrylic on wood 96 x 120 inches Joy of Giving Something, Inc. Sea World, 2004 Oil and acrylic on wood 96 x 120 inches Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Gift of Pamela K. and William A. Royall Jr. MANIFEST DESTINY Manifest Destiny, 2003–4 Oil and acrylic on wood 96 x 288 inches Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment AMERICAN ICONS Capitol Hill, 2005 Oil on wood 32 x 40 inches Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Lee Disney World I, 2005 Oil on wood 72 x 84 inches Beth Rudin DeWoody Mount Rushmore, 2005 Oil on wood 40 x 32 inches Jeffrey Seller and Joshua Lehrer
East 82nd Street, 2006 Oil on wood 80 x 68 inches The Pappas Family, Boston Hollywood at Night, 2006 Oil on wood 64 x 96 inches Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Davis The Pelican, 2006 Oil on wood 56 x 44 inches Courtesy Elizabeth Schwartz, New York SOUTH South, 2008 Oil on gessoed paper 75 x 358¾ inches The Pappas Family, Boston BIG WEATHER and conclusion Cataclysm, 2003 Oil and acrylic on wood 48 x 40 inches Collection of Melva Bucksbaum and Raymond Learsy Supergrid, 2007 Oil on gessoed paper 75 ¼ x 51 inches Michael Polsky Only You, 2008 Oil and resin on wood 54 x 96 inches Courtesy of the artist and Waqas Wajahat, New York The Reef, 2009 Oil and resin on wood panel 64 x 36 inches Pamela K. and William A. Royall Jr., Richmond, Virginia
Exhibition Credits and Acknowledgments
Come back for these events.
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.
Sun, Oct 2 | 12–5 pm Free
The Wexner Center’s fall exhibitions are made possible by a significant contribution from Battelle. The Wexner Center also receives generous support from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, The Columbus Foundation, Nationwide Foundation, and the Ohio Arts Council, as well as from the Corporate Annual Fund of the Wexner Center Foundation and Wexner Center members. Promotional support for the Wexner Center’s presentation of this exhibition is provided by Time Warner Cable. Thanks to Jill Davis (director of exhibitions management), Katy M. Reis (curatorial assistant), and David Dickas (preparator) for their invaluable support in realizing the exhibition. Thanks also to Mark Van Fleet (registrar), Amanda Potter (educator for public and university programs), Michael Greenler (brochure designer), Chris Jones (poster designer), Ann Bremner and Molly Reinhoudt (editors), Karen Simonian, Erik Pepple, Tony Pellerite, and Tim Fulton (media relations and outreach). Thanks as well to Director Sherri Geldin and to the many generous lenders to the exhibition, especially Chuck and Joyce Shenk. Thanks most of all to Alexis Rockman for graciously sharing his work and his vision with our audiences.—Bill Horrigan
Super Sunday: Think Green
Join us for an open house to celebrate our fall exhibitions, featuring free gallery admission and fun, engaging activities for visitors of all ages. Make your own environmentally inspired work of art, learn about making earth-friendly choices from local “green” organizations, hear from the Columbus Zoo about how climate change is impacting animal habitats, and more! Visit wexarts.org for a complete schedule of events.
Artist Talk: Alexis Rockman Tue, Nov 8 | 7 pm Film/Video Theater Free
All images are © Alexis Rockman. All photos are courtesy the artist.
Painter Alexis Rockman returns to the Wexner Center to speak about his retrospective exhibition, A Fable for Tomorrow. Rockman will speak about his development as an artist and the people and places that have inspired his work.
© The Ohio State University, Wexner Center for the Arts.
walk-in t o u r s
Wexner Center for the Arts The Ohio State University 1871 North High Street Columbus, OH 43210-1393 wexarts.org
Thursdays at 5 pm (Beginning September 22) Saturdays at 1 pm (Beginning September 24) Meet at the entrance to the galleries Free with gallery admission
Pick up a copy of the exhibition catalogue and take a piece of the exhibition home with you with a limited edition Alexis Rockman poster. Both items are available in the Wexner Center Store. Use your cell phone to hear artist Alexis Rockman talk about selected works in this exhibition. Pick up a handout in the galleries for more information, or just dial (614) 448-5065 when you see the cell phone symbol on a label. It’s free—the only cost is your minutes.
COVER Manifest Destiny, 2003–4 Oil and acrylic on wood 96 x 288 inches Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Find out more about our current exhibitions when you visit the galleries with a Wexner Center docent. Just stop in! No reservations are required.
free gall e ry a dm i s s i o n Enjoy free admission to the fall exhibitions every Thursday from 4 to 8 pm and on the first Sunday of each month.