Our
next featured artist, Vladimir Alexander, is discovering his place in the art
world as a portrait painter and works out of his home studio in Houston. Alexander has
shown his work at the Blaffer Art Museum and the Galveston Art League, and holds the ambition of his large scale art gaining recognition as a unique contribution
to Houston’s growing art scene and community of artists.
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| "La Mirada" 36" x 48" Oil on Canvas - 2014 Vladimir Alexander |
Vladimir, would you like to introduce yourself?
Hello, I’m Vladimir Alexandar and I have graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree in Studio Painting. I have been interested in drawing since I was five years old. My father would always buy me materials to encourage me and my interest in art continued all the way into high school. I began college courses at HCC and become serious about art after taking a life drawing class that focused on anatomy. Eventually, I continued onto the University of Houston and majored in fine arts. Drawing and illustration is where I started with art and eventually moved on to painting. Since graduating, I have been painting portraits of families and sometimes pets by commission. I have also developed a skill of drawing three minute sketches and have sketched about a thousand since age fifteen.
Hello, I’m Vladimir Alexandar and I have graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor’s in Fine Arts degree in Studio Painting. I have been interested in drawing since I was five years old. My father would always buy me materials to encourage me and my interest in art continued all the way into high school. I began college courses at HCC and become serious about art after taking a life drawing class that focused on anatomy. Eventually, I continued onto the University of Houston and majored in fine arts. Drawing and illustration is where I started with art and eventually moved on to painting. Since graduating, I have been painting portraits of families and sometimes pets by commission. I have also developed a skill of drawing three minute sketches and have sketched about a thousand since age fifteen.
Can you describe your work for us?
Portraits are my main focus right now. I like to
paint them in large scale because I feel the larger size captures with more
intensity the emotions that are being communicated in the person’s expression.
I am also very motivated by the use of color in my portraits, and I feel that
working in large scale allows me to use color more dramatically in my
interpretation of the person’s character. Abstract art is new for me and I have done a
few paintings in this style. I feel abstract art is a style in which I can view
the world and add my point of view by taking an image to a very simplified form.
What attracts you to painting?
I’m attracted to painting because of the medium I use. Working with oil paint is interesting because of how I am able to control it. It’s almost like a strategic game when I begin mixing colors from the time they are on my pallet and then on the canvas. When I am at a point where I feel comfortable with the colors I am working with, the mixing becomes like magic and I am in harmony with the medium.
I’m attracted to painting because of the medium I use. Working with oil paint is interesting because of how I am able to control it. It’s almost like a strategic game when I begin mixing colors from the time they are on my pallet and then on the canvas. When I am at a point where I feel comfortable with the colors I am working with, the mixing becomes like magic and I am in harmony with the medium.
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"Zapata and Villa" 4' x 4' Oil on Canvas - 2015
Vladimir Alexander
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Can you tell us what “being creative” means to you and when you
discovered it was something you had to do?
Being creative for me is simply having my sketch book with me at all times and keeping a diary of what I sketch. I look back at what I wrote about that sketch and begin to take it a step further. I become selective about the sketch depending on the person in their anatomy or a feature that appeals to me. Sometimes it is based on my relationship or connection with the person. This is why I was inspired to paint a portrait of my teacher from UH. I spent time with this person that was meaningful and memorable. I had an emotional response that I used for creativity to paint his portrait.
Being creative for me is simply having my sketch book with me at all times and keeping a diary of what I sketch. I look back at what I wrote about that sketch and begin to take it a step further. I become selective about the sketch depending on the person in their anatomy or a feature that appeals to me. Sometimes it is based on my relationship or connection with the person. This is why I was inspired to paint a portrait of my teacher from UH. I spent time with this person that was meaningful and memorable. I had an emotional response that I used for creativity to paint his portrait.
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"Portrait of Rex Koontz" 12" x 24" Oil on Canvas - 2014
Vladimir Alexander
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What kind of routine or ritual do you have before you begin a
project? Do you have a creative cycle or process?
It is definitely a process that is not just physical, but emotional. It is also based on investigating or researching the person who I will paint. I also like to write down my thoughts as part of the process of putting myself into the composition.
It is definitely a process that is not just physical, but emotional. It is also based on investigating or researching the person who I will paint. I also like to write down my thoughts as part of the process of putting myself into the composition.
When I begin the portrait, I like to have more than one picture of
the person in order to build a background or story of the person and get a deeper
understanding of who they are and why they want to have their portrait made. This story is basically the foundation and
the beginning of my process. Also, I don’t like to listen to music when I
paint. I listen instead to my emotions and inner rhythm of what I’m feeling in
that moment.
Tell us about one of your favorite works and why you remember
it?
The portrait of my father is my favorite. I feel it immortalizes and honors him. It is also my favorite because it holds the memory of the conversation he was having with me during the time I was painting it.
The portrait of my father is my favorite. I feel it immortalizes and honors him. It is also my favorite because it holds the memory of the conversation he was having with me during the time I was painting it.
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"Portrait of My Father" 30" x 40" Oil on Canvas - 2013
Vladimir Alexander
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Do you have a general message that you try to communicate with
your art?
I really like to communicate through color. People interact with color and it’s not really a message that I try to communicate, but a response of emotion. I like to say that life is color…la vida es color; an appreciation of life and how we get to see all the colors in the world from the sky to the ground. We can see color in each other. This is why color is a main element in my large scale portraits. My attempt is to draw out a person’s features with color to show the character of the person more vividly.
I really like to communicate through color. People interact with color and it’s not really a message that I try to communicate, but a response of emotion. I like to say that life is color…la vida es color; an appreciation of life and how we get to see all the colors in the world from the sky to the ground. We can see color in each other. This is why color is a main element in my large scale portraits. My attempt is to draw out a person’s features with color to show the character of the person more vividly.
What’s the best advice you've received, or that you
can give us about how to nurture creativity?
I like to refer to a quote by Isaac Newton that a math teacher said once… “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of a giant.”
I like to refer to a quote by Isaac Newton that a math teacher said once… “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of a giant.”
My father is my giant from what he has seen
during his lifetime. My teachers are my giants as well because of their
knowledge and experience. Nurturing creativity for me is by continuing to learn
and experiment in the art of painting, and listening to artists who have
experience and knowledge in the art world where I aspire to be.
Thank you Vladimir Alexander for taking the time to share your thoughts and ideas about yourself as an artist and your work. You can see and enjoy more of Vladimir’s work at his artist website.
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