Painter Alexis Rockman’s canvases present a darkly surreal vision of the collision between human civilization and the natural world. Drawing from diverse sources that include old master painting, science fiction and natural history, Rockman has also undertaken expeditions into the Amazon Basin, Tasmania, Madagascar, South Africa and Antarctica to research his paintings. He has worked with other artists, and with leading scientists, including paleontologist Peter Ward, naturalist Stephen Jay Gould, and NASA climatologist James Hanson. Rockman’s work is in the collections of LACMA, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was recently the subject of a major retrospective at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow.
With support from the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts Grand Rapids and Chelsea River Gallery.
This October 18, 2012 lecture is part of the Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design Distinguished Speaker Series. Established with the generous support of alumna Penny W. Stamps, the Speaker Series brings respected emerging and established artists/designers from a broad spectrum of media to the School to conduct a public lecture and engage with students, faculty, and the larger at the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor communities.
All presentations take place on Thursdays at 5:10 pm at the historic Michigan Theater, located at 603 E. Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor, and are free of charge and open to the public. For more information, please visit: art-design.umich.edu/stamps
