Peter Alexander was an American artist who played a significant role in the Light and Space artistic movement in southern California during the 1960s.
Alexander, who was born in Los Angeles on February 27, 1939, was raised in Newport Beach. Alexander originally intended to pursue a profession in design. He comes from a family that has operated oil fields for four generations and has lived in Southern California.
He attended a number of colleges along the way to his education, starting from 1957 to 1960 at the University of Pennsylvania.
After that, from 1960 to 1962, he attended the Architectural Association in London for his studies, and from 1962 to 1963, he attended the University of California, Berkeley.
At the University of Southern California from 1963 to 1964, Alexander completed his education. Later, he transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1965 and a master’s in fine arts three years later.
Despite beginning his career as an architect, it was his sculptures made of translucent resin that made him famous in the 1960s.
Alexander, along with his colleagues Robert Irwin, Doug Wheeler, and Larry Bell, was regarded as one of the movement’s essential figures and contributed to its global recognition.
Due to the variety of his artistic endeavours, he did not receive the same level of acclaim as his contemporaries.
Alexander also produced paintings, notably a series of bright aerial vistas of city lights throughout the Los Angeles basin, in addition to his resin sculptures. Even a massive mural for Los Angeles’ Walt Disney Concert Hall was ordered from him.
The art of Alexander has been included in a number of films, including as “Erin Brockovich,” “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” and “Shopgirl.”
He was acquainted with Christopher Isherwood for a very long time, and the Laguna Art Museum has a portrait of Alexander painted by Isherwood and Don Bachardy.
Alexander’s work has been displayed in numerous exhibitions and museums over the course of his career, including ones in association with Pacific Standard Time.
The junction of natural and artificial light, which was a hallmark of the late 20th century, was included in his art, which was renowned for its investigation of colour and light.
Alexander utilised a lot of resin in his early works, but after experiencing health problems, he stopped using it.
In appreciation of his services to the arts, Alexander was awarded a fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts in 1980.
His work is included in a number of notable collections around the globe, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, among others.
Peter Alexander was married twice and lived in Santa Monica, California. He had a son from his second marriage to the artist Claudia Parducci and two daughters from his first union.
Alexander, 81, passed away in his Santa Monica home on May 26, 2020. Although the reason for the death was not made public, it was said to have no connection to COVID-19.
Peter Alexander’s Cause of Death
Peter Alexander’s cause of death is unknown but is said to have a relation with coronavirus.
