Brooke P. Alexander showcased her latest collection of paintings, titled “Peculiar Landscapes,” at Southside Gallery on Thursday, Aug. 28, reflecting on the artist’s themes of summer.
Hands to chins like art critics, visitors at the gallery were given the chance to peek into windows retaining the last green leaves of summer as they observed Alexander’s work.
Alexander grew up in Athens, Ala., and relocated to Oxford to attend the University of Mississippi. She reflected on the differences between the two locations as well as the connections.
“They’re both small Southern towns, but Athens, Ala., is the small town everyone mishears and thinks I’ve said Athens, Ga., whereas Oxford has a reputation that speaks for itself,” Alexander said. “The density of artists, writers, musicians and creative people in Oxford is something I’ve not experienced anywhere else. It’s a town that nourishes its artists, and I’m deeply grateful to be a part of its people.”
Painting and the arrangements of paintings can be like short stories or chapters of a novel. They are scenes. On her website, Alexander admits that she grew up with more literary influences than artistic ones. Having treasured words before paint, she expands on the kinds of books and themes her work is most reflective of.
“I started reading William Faulkner in college and have been reading him ever since, and his influence can be seen in my research,” Alexander said. “The natural world and the human figure are always present in my paintings.”
These snippets of the natural world and human figure are showcased in stories of comedy, dreams and absence. A prominent piece at the front of the exhibit depicted a woman bathing in a trough and eating chicken nuggets with a dollop of ketchup. In good humor, Alexander said that the work came from an actual experience of hers bathing in a trough she bought from Tractor Supply.
While some of her pieces engaged in comedy, most were scenic and lived-in spaces where one might find their grandparents. The landscapes included gardens, fields, farms and backyards — all familiar to those raised in rural areas. Place, rather than subject, seemed to be important to her themes.
The subjects of the paintings act unnoticed. In one piece, a duck stood central while a woman bathed in the background. In another, a room was the focus with a hazy man wielding an ax in the background.
On her website, Alexander reveals that she often chooses a structure, person or other object from her life and creates a story around that idea. She said the stories she builds are often continuous.
“The best story I’ve created is always the one I’m in the middle of working on,” Alexander said. “Stories and narratives are always new and exciting when they’re half finished on the easel for me, when I’m in the middle of constructing them.”
Alexander makes an argument in her pieces that by repetition and daily influence, people will overlook art they have become accustomed to: tables, predictable light on a wall or a single feather. Her collection is a demand to appreciate what is often neglected to normalcy.
