A Joyous Conversation with Alexis Rockman
“Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum"
Alexis Rockman is an American contemporary artist known for his paintings depicting future landscapes as they might exist with impacts of climate change and evolution influenced by genetic engineering. Alexis's artwork has been exhibited internationally in galleries, various museums, and art spaces such as Nancy Littlejohn Fine Art, Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina, Princeton University Art Museum, Baldwin Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH, DeVos Art Museum at Northern Michigan University, Salon 94, and elsewhere. He is known for being a part of the New Gothic Art movement and creating Climate change art. His notable artworks include Manifest Destiny, Host and Vector, and Dust Devil.
Alexis has a new exhibit with Mark Dion: A Journey to Nature's Underworld," that will be at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT, 24 June – 27 August 2023; Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, 8 February – 9 June 2024; Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY, 13 July 2024 – 5 January 2025; Lowe Art Museum at the University of Miami, FL, 13 February – 20 July 2025; Palmer Museum of Art at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 23 August – 7 December 2025.
I had the pleasure and honor of asking Alexis about the most significant lessons he has learned from art, his favorite sci-fi authors, and so much more.
UZOMAH: How important is artistic and authentic storytelling in changing the narrative of what people commonly think of the problems the climate faces, and how can they have an impact that the media does not always portray?
ALEXIS: I’m skeptical that any strategies will have an impact. I used to think if I could show as accurately as possible how the world would be transformed by these problems, the artwork would move the needle in terms of action, but over the years, I realize that there’s not much I can do for these issues with art.
Mt Rushmore, 2005, oil on wood, 40 x 32 in
U: You are known for your dystopian natural environments; what made you focus on the climate's future in that artistic direction?
A: The biodiversity crisis, biotech revolution, and global warming have always been the most interesting issues to focus on.
The Farm, 2000, oil and acrylic on wood, 96 x 120 in.
U: What is the greatest lesson you have learned from art that you can and have applied to your life?
A: Every day matters.
Adelies, 2008, oil and acrylic on wood, 68 x 80 in
U: You have gained great inspiration through your travels, like your trip to Rockman to Guyana in 1994 with fellow artist Mark Dion. What made you focus on the flora and fauna you observed?
A: That trip to Guyana in 1994 was based on previous expeditions by our heroes, Charles Darwin and William Beebe. We wanted to retrace their footsteps and see the same ecosystems that they had seen in the 19th and early 20th century.
The Sinking of the Brig Helen, 2017, oil on dibond, 56 x 44 in
U: Do you have favorite Sci-fi authors or books about natural science and the earth you would like to discuss?
A: Jules Verne
HG Wells,
Arthur C. Clarke
William Gibson
Ursula K. Le Guin
Kim Stanley Robinson
U: What advice would you give to a young artist or an artist wanting to incorporate social and political issues into their artwork?
A: Be ready for a battle.
For more information about Alexis’s artwork, please visit his site. You can also find him on Instagram.
