This page is referenced by:

• 1 2017-11-13T13:58:12-08:00 Alexis Rockman by Patrick Hackett 48 Striking images of post apocalyptic worlds where life exist without us, motivating viewers to engage in environmental action. image_header 2017-12-08T12:24:25-08:00

  Manifest Destiny, (2004)

  
  This detailed portrait of a post-apocalyptic New York City shoreline is exemplary of Rockman's American Icons album and one of his most famous works of art. It depicts a very polluted, desolate world missing something we could never fathom, us. In our absence though, one can see the continuation of life, it may not be pretty, but nonetheless it has found a way to adapt and overcome the challenges created by us. There are some resilient animals we can recognize, but the rest seem deformed or mutated. This is the result of our meddling in their genetics, as well as the pollution we've left/created for them. There are also remnants of the Brooklyn bridge, the New Jersey pipeline, and a New York City underwater. The scene is also ridden with heavy pollution as well as multiple diseases, bacteria, and viruses that plagued our existence. It seems like an unusual approach to incorporate so many different aspects of human's existence, what could Rockman be getting at in adding these? How are these remaining anthropocentric items related?
  
  It may be that these are included to show the brevity of human existence, represented in the animals and buildings that have outlasted us. Another possibility is that the disease, mutation, and pollution are all that represent our lasting impact we've had on the world. I believe the purpose of this painting, including the scrupulous details, can be extrapolated from the combination of the relation of these ideas as well as their reason for incorporation. I feel as though he adds all these different aspects of human nature to not only show just how fragile our existence is, but also that our lasting impact on the world is solely negative. This combination of human brevity and negligence compels viewers to be impacted emotionally, in the hopes that they will try to prevent this possible future scenario depicted. This experience of shock and awe compels people to think about their impact on the environment and whether they would've helped contribute to this desolate future or not. Stirring the thoughts of the audience and compelling them to reflect upon their actions in relation to the environment can be considered a win in itself, but the true aims of this kind of art is to elicit action as well. For contemplation is a great thing, but if we don't do anything to fix the damage we've done to the Earth and the environment, have we accomplished anything at all?
  
  Ultimately, therefore I think Rockman's ecocentric art is of such importance, because it already provides a contemplative image of what's possible if no change is made. This idea, I feel, is why Rockman's art is so successful at eliciting action because it uses an emotional appeal to leave a profound impact on the viewers. Of all the appeals an emotional one seems to be the most influential as well as longest lasting, due to it's ability to bypass logic or thought calling for immediate action. This could be the reason visual art is so moving, it appeals to emotions more than anything. This allows people to experience the artists true intentions of the painting in its rawest form, something I experience firsthand when looking at Rockman's works.
  

  Background and Influence of Alexis Rockman

  Background

  Rockman was born and grew up in New York City, as a child, Rockman frequented the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where his mother, Diana Wall, worked for anthropologist Margaret Mead. Rockman has a particular fascination with cockroaches and rats, and admires their ability to shadow human civilization (Wikipedia). At a young age Rockman's fascination for nature, animals, and our interactions with them was fostered by a large interest in Natural History and Science. He later gained a desire for film, animation, and art going on to study animation at Rhode Island School of Design. He later continued art studies at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, receiving a BFA in fine arts in 1985 (Wikipedia). 

  Influences and Travels

  He has exhibited his work in the United States since 1985, including a 2004 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, and internationally since 1989. Many of Alexis Rockman's works have been inspired by his travels around the world, including to Costa Rica, Brazil, Madagascar, Guyana, Tasmania, and Antarctica. In his work, Rockman uses the language of natural history to examine our relationship to it as a culture. He is influenced by the 19th century Hudson River School, and identifies his work as pop art, "using natural history as his iconography”. Hudson River School artists portrayed American landscapes, in a Utopian way, as a haven for Europeans escaping oppression. Rockman turns this idea upside down, depicting apocalyptic scenes, while incorporating realism of the Hudson River School. Rockman has also collaborated on a book with  Author and Scientist Peter Douglass Ward called "Future Evolution”. Rockman and Ward portray the future as abundant with plants and animals, but they are descendants of weedy species or feral domestics. (Wikipedia)
  
  Other influences include, Chesley Bonestell's 1950 Collier's magazine illustration Atom Bombing of New York City, which depicts Manhattan amidst destruction and a glowing orange aura of an atomic bomb. As well as, Charles R. Knight who has a special place in Rockman's development, as he almost single-handedly created the genre of reconstructions of extinct ecosystems. (Wikipedia) One can see the quite obvious layout for what has become of Rockman's work by simply analyzing his influences. It seems as though all his influences, travels, and interests since he was a young boy have foreshadowed the genre of work he was, seemingly born to, make. These artists influences can be seen directly in Rockman's work, his prior experiences truly shaping what he puts on canvas. He seeks to impact those with these extravagant scenes of a extinction ecosystems as profoundly as his idols have impacted him. This passion and intent is truly what makes Rockman's work so moving. He pours his emotions and full effort into all of his paintings to allow the audience to experience the raw emotions he embeds into them.

  What is the Anthropocene:

  The Anthropocene, for now, is an abstract idea of the new environmental epoch we are in. Not being globally accepted, but continually pushed for the Anthropocene is the new era we are living in. Due to our selfishness and neglect of future outcomes we have created this new era by leaving a lasting impact on Earth and its ecosystems. Largely defined by as a purely negative impact on the world, the Anthropocene is characterized through deforestation, pollution, nuclear weapons, and more. As seen in the video, this new era has been manifested by our irreversible damage to the Earth which will even able to be recognized by future geologists. Not only have we not considered the ramifications of our actions, but we still fail to take rehabilitating actions to correct our damage. It seems as though we would rather let the Earth suffer, rather than inconvenience ourselves with change. It's sad that self-interest takes precedence over the good of our world as a whole, because it seems as though we forget this is the only world we have. We must take action to combat this apathy and hope that we aren't too late in trying to fix our mistakes. Time might be against us, but we have one superpower we can exercise that may turn the tide in this battle, unity. If we all come together to do our part, all seven billion of us, we could change the course of our future and maybe even promise it's existence. Motivating everyone to do something for this cause is far easier said than done, so what can help us or even rally us to care? Anthropocene art may just be our best chance or key motivating force for people to make change. 

  Criterion of Anthropocene Art

  Anthropocene Art should be art that almost makes one uncomfortable in its lack of romanticism and its portrayal of radical images. It should make people contemplate their actions and decisions in relation to their impact on the environment. It should also represent our damaging habitats in a cry for people to rise to action. It should also discredit humans dominance over nature by revealing just how vulnerable we are. In Ethics, Ecology, and the Future: Art and Design Face the Anthropocene, Kayla Anderson represents this criteria by stating, "This invites us to re-envision our development of science and technology, our political and social structures, and our relation to others in a broader ecology. Current Anthropocene discourse is plagued by narratives that are heroic, solutionist and masculinist, and that re-assert human dominance over the planet.  Not allowing for the speculative space to envision radical futures if we don’t fix how we treat the environment." So not only should it make you contemplate how interconnected all our actions are, but it should also dispel the myth that we are impervious to extinction. In making one realize how fragile our existence is Anthropocene art pushes for people to improve their habits to fix the damage we have done. It also challenges science and technology and what is considered progress, giving insight to the truly detrimental nature of what we consider "progress". This idea of emotional appeal eliciting action is backed up by Bullot in, THE FUNCTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ART​ when he states, "Because reflective thinking can guide audiences into artistic learning and scientific understanding, eliciting of the appreciator’s critical and reflective thinking is preferable to indoctrinating the appreciator with biased interpretations of environmental issues." This quote seems complicated but it is rather simple, he is saying that environmental art that causes reflective thinking is more useful in starting contemplative thinking than art that simply tries to bestow biases of the situation on the viewer. So, creating environmental art that is made to make a viewer assume the bias of the artist is far less impactful than those that make the viewer reflect. This is the purpose of Anthropocene Art, reflection leading to contemplation, hopefully, motivating action to address the specific environmental issue. 

  Rockman's Anthropocentric Works

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Rockman as Anthropocene Artist

  
  Hopefully it is evident at this point that I believe Rockman is an influential Anthropocene artist. He holds all the intentions and desires to be classified as one. Not only does he himself fit the mold of an Anthropocene artist but his work does as well. As you can see from the works listed above, they hold a theme of a post human future in which our impact is still prevalent. This impact though is one of purely negative aspects leaving behind our degradation of the earth, pollution, and mutations. In every painting there is obvious examples of a permanently damaged ecosystem looking to recover, but despite its best efforts they cannot undo the damage environment. Only we can do that, we can fix this problem that we created to save our earth, animals, and us. I feel as though the theme that ties all this paintings together best is that we are the ones responsible for creating as well as needing to fix these detrimental effects. Many of these paintings represent American Icons but the message is universal, we all need to do our part in fighting to save our earth as well as our existence. His aims is to motivate people to not only think about these issues, but also do something about them. He tries to convey the idea that our issues won't go away unless we face them and he clearly represents what will happen if we continue to ignore them, we will go away. Rockman leaves you to contemplate your own interactions with the environment, what will you do to prevent the outcomes you've seen? 

  Works Cited

  • American Icons | Alexis Rockman. http://alexisrockman.net/american-icons/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2017.
  • Anderson, Kayla. “Ethics, Ecology, and the Future: Art and Design Face the Anthropocene.” Leonardo, no. 4, 2015, p. 338.
  • Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow at the Smithsonian American Art Museum - YouTube.                  https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wXagCFNhEIc. Accessed 1 Dec. 2017.
  • Bertling, JOY1, jbertling@bellsouth.ne. “Exercising the Ecological Imagination: Representing the Future of Place.” Art Education, vol. 66, no. 1, Jan. 2013, pp. 33–39.
  • Bullot, Nicolas J. “The Functions of Environmental Art.” Leonardo, vol. 47, no. 5, Nov. 2014, pp. 511–12. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1162/LEON_a_00828.
  • Dixon, Dougal. “The Shape of Things to Come.” Nature, vol. 416, no. 6877, Mar. 2002, p. 127.
  • Lindquist, Greg. “Alexis Rockman.” Brooklyn Rail, Nov. 2015, p. 30.
  • Potter, Polyxeni. “Manifesting Ecologic and Microbial Connections.” Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 12, no. 4, Apr. 2006, pp.      715–16.
  • “Alexis Rockman.” Wikipedia, 3 Nov. 2017. Wikipedia,     https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.phptitle=Alexis_Rockman&oldid=808491521.