GEORGE ALEXANDER
PONDER

Opening, February 7, 6pm
February 7- 10
SACI's Maidoff Gallery
Via Sant'Egidio 14, Florence

"Una serie di dipinti su un astronauta la cui missione è aiutare l'umanità a rendersi conto di essere
nello stesso viaggio insieme sulla ricerca dello scopo e del vero significato nella vita ".

“A series of paintings about an astronaut whose mission is to help humanity realize that we are on the same journey together on the search for purpose and true meaning in life”.
The astronaut as a character, as well as an icon, belongs to a vast collective imagination including the aesthetics of science- ction and the idea of the contemporary hero. In the paintings of George Alexander he appears as an anonymous and undecipherable boy from the XXI century, wearing casual clothes, riding a bike or laying on a couch. And, of course, never taking off his helmet.
This mysterious and thoughtful presence is like a magician or a philosopher; and with his concerns about the hu- man condition he becomes a symbol of togetherness: he embodies all the travelers and the doubtful people looking for a meaning, re ecting on the sense of life, with no prejudices and no absurd discriminations.
Recently some animals are appearing in the composition of the paintings. Amongst the others there is a bison, a massif animal that symbolizes freedom and strength, the landscapes of Nord America and the universe of the First Nation. But for the artist the bison is just a bison, it is a sort of mirror of himself (or of the astronaut): a resilient identity who is still there, despite of all the slaughters and the cultural appropriations.
George Alexander started to work on this series in 2016, using preeminently acrylic painting but experimenting also other techniques and languages. Sometimes he goes back to old canvases and starts working again on (un-) nished painting. This is typical of his process which he lives as a struggle between himself and something to be discovered.
After three years the Astronaut is still there, he keeps pondering. The whole work suggests a dimension of waiting and thinking: “as if the astronaut is trying to gure out how to help us, but yet still cannot think of how.”
George Alexander is a Muscogee Creek Artist from Tulsa Oklahoma. He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), Santa Fe New Mexico. Using the morals that he learned growing up, the love for watching Sci Fi movies and looking at graf ti and street art for inspiration, he began developing a unique style. He found the bright colors of graf ti to be brilliant and the hatefulness energetic. Watching Sci Fi gave him an idea of what the future would be like if we did not change our ways living on this planet. The morals gave him the vision of coming together as one without a label to separate one another. This gave him a dilemma of looking for true meaning in life. Thus, the astronaut gure was created.
Because of his dedication to his practice, he was honored as a SITE Santa Fe Scholar and received multiple awards from the American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Navajo Artist Tony Abeyta recognized George’s passion for painting and began to mentor him. George now continues his education in Florence Italy where he pursues a mas- ter’s in ne arts at the Studio Art College International where he continues his practice in painting and developed a new interest for sculpting His work is shown at Rain Maker Gallery Bristol UK, King Galleries in Santa Fe, NM and Home Gallery in Prato, IT. After he graduates, he will continue painting and sculpting where ever life takes him.
WORK(IN)SPACE is a new series of exhibition projects by SACI 2nd-Year MFA Candidates in Studio Art, as part of the Professional Practicum Seminar. Students will work directly with SACI’s Maidoff Gallery to critically engage with the challenges offered by preparing an exhibition. Each week a new opening will present a coherent body of work of the artists. Working in a one-to-one relationship with SACI Instructors Daria Filardo and Pietro Gaglianò, students will step outside of their studio environment to rethink their work in an exhibition setting, learning to consider all the aspects, limitations and needs of the given space to achieve the best nal result.
WORK(IN)SPACE will be held in the Maidoff Gallery and will include all phases of the exhibition, from the planning, to the installation and the opening of the solo show. Visitors are invited to attend the opening of the exhibitions, or visit during opening hours.