ALXSw_ART IS HOME

ArtWear

2012-01-13T10:12:00.001-08:00

Some glam shots of silkscreen graphics: more to follow. A

new Studio Work 2011: picnic (this ain't no)

2011-12-29T18:23:00.000-08:00

picnic (this ain't no)

16 x 40 inches

oil, oil pastel, gallery wrapped canvas

R: entire painting

below: detail images

22 December Greeting

2011-12-21T20:23:00.000-08:00

Blessed and Happy Solstice !

Thoughts toward Peace and Freedom for all sentient beings across the world.

Solidarity.

New Studio Work 2011: xm

2011-12-19T20:50:00.001-08:00

20 x 24"

oil, metallics, oil pastel

gallery wrapped canvas

R: entire painting

below: detail images

nest_5

2011-12-15T15:00:00.000-08:00

nest_5

18 x 24

oil, metallics, oil pastel

gallery wrapped canvas

2011, 15 December

R: entire painting

below: detail

Invisible: Oxidizing Nicely since 2008

2011-12-12T13:47:00.000-08:00

Invisible

26 x 40 "

oil and metallics on canvas, framed, 2008

ALXSw: "I m pleased to see the durability of these paints,

yet making the work more interesting across time."

above: entire painting with empty cricket cage

below: detail images

* * *

Recent Paintings Winter 2010: Wake

2011-12-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

Wake

12 x 12"

oil on canvas

study for larger painting

above: 12 x 12 "

below: detail

Alxs Shop: Shirts, Postcards, Prints, Lions , Tigers, Bears

2011-12-05T19:52:00.000-08:00

Aloha- Hola

Below are some art products I've designed and

are ready for enjoyment. Please email (see left column).

I ve selected quality shirts of all-cotton or cotton blend

not made in sweatshops. Paypal makes it easy.

Thanks for viewing.

Alxs

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HORSE graphic

This was designed from a photograph taken in

Montana. It was -5F that day and the horses were fighting over hay.

In Stock Now on quality pre shrunk cotton garments:

regular T’s ( S - L ) $ 20.

fashion t ( long with scalloped neck) $24

fashion hoody ( L in pink ) $35.

spagetti t’s ( white M/L and pink L ) $22

(to prices add USPS/delivery confirmation)

CONTINUOUS PRACTICE - Kanji

T's are quality 50/50 cotton and produced in the western hemisphere.

They look good under a gi.

In stock now: Boxy T's (S - XL ) $20 ea + USPS

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B/W Photography POSTCARD Collection 1 and 2

Printed in the US. Includes the award winning photos from Carmel Art and Film and

BW Spider Awards. The postcards are in a rollup format and perforated to tear off...

like the curio shops used to sell.

Each rollup has 4 - 5x7" bw postcards.

For $12. you get two rollup sets of collection 1 and 2.

Price includes postage within US. (that's 16 postcards total, 2 of each image)

below: Collection 1

nuestrasenora

3 elements

the chiricahuas (az)

hopscotch

below: Collection 2

tango

yucca: the cactus with big hair

water tower/stairs

smoke & fog

below: back of postcards:

Vinyl Prints of my Photography available by special order. The grommeted corners are clean and industrial. The print quality is very crisp. Contact me if you want an image in your home. Up to 48' one direction. This is a great way to experience and live with BIG PHOTOGTAPHY without giving up food. ALXSw

Official beginning of Painting Season

2011-10-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

This am, at 04:13, ALXSw awakened and after only one

cup of java softened with half and half, quietly and uncermoniously began

Painting Season 2011.

This morning's sudden, but decisive return to painting, began with focussing on a

particular 40 x 40" two-canvas sectional, which had been left in a dismal state of affairs

all summer. Having made serious (and seemingly) permanent progress on the piece,

West 's working titles include, but are not limited to:

1) the lost shuttlecock (of summer's bliss)

2) lost _1

3) in the shadow of the flying buttress of notre dame, and

4) homage for Nickolai Nickolaivich.

If historic titling patterns continue, she will probably title it something like, L1, leaving

the minimalist observer to do as she/he needs with the title. No images are available at

this time.

24 Nov. 2011: still painting, no photos as yet.

Photography: The Horseshoe 2 Fire, June 2011

2011-07-12T08:46:00.001-07:00

Horseshoe 2 Fire Approaching the Chiricahua National Monument

Taken from Massai Point, 7 June , 2011.

Happy to note that this was one of current fire images

rotated on nifc.gov homepage in June.

Horseshoe 2 Fire Approaching the Chiricahua National Monument

Taken from Massai Point, 7 June , 2011

B.A.E.R team recently published data (see inciweb.org) that most of the fire

burned with moderate to light intensity: only 13% was high intensity.

The Chiricahua's and the Monument are compelling and dramatic.

I' m eager to return off-duty and seek coatimundi sightings.

redTable_2: More Summer Painting

2011-07-12T08:42:00.000-07:00

redTable_2

20 x 20"

oil and oil pastel on canvas

detail image below

Summer Painting: redTable Series

2011-07-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

redTable 1

24 x 48 "

oil and oil pastel on ceconite

detail images below

Bend Haiku Weekend: (tick tick tick) starts today !

2011-06-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Bend is hosting the Haiku Society of America annual conference.

There is some excellent work by many artists in tradtional and neo-traditional style.

ALXSw (moi) will be exhibiting zen calligraphy in a neo-traditional style

and gyutaku tiles.No fish were imperiled in the making of these tiles, seriously.

Tshirts are available on zazzle.com, under search "alxsw".

Do stop by? HSA website

http://sites.google.com/site/haikuoregon/hsa-meeting

has details of events, including the

saki tasting. Raw, unfiltered please ? Domo arigato !

! Tango !

2011-05-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

Group photo: Thanks to Sensei Earl and the Dancers!

ALXSw WEAR Online

2011-04-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

above: A L I E N

below: Horses_2

front image

below: RAVEN: Thinking is Not Perceiving

(Front image)

New ALXSwWEAR is

available at my zazzle store:

Cloud in the Sky (below)

Equal Tax _ 7 (below)

Ducky in Cerulean

red_7

T_REX

Recompena! Reward ! Lost Pero !

Horsey (above)

Horses_2: Hunter Jumpers

A L I E N (above)

Thinking is Not Perceiveing 4

Raven: Thinking is Not Percieving2 (above)

more added weekly

The images can be ordered

on just about ten thousand things at zazzle:

t's, hoodys, cups, baby onezies, totes, ties, and iguanas (?).

Let me know what you think.

Kind Regards,

ALXSw

above: Cloud in the Sky

below: Equal Taxes _7

WILDaid Gala, May 5, SanFran, CA

2011-04-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Best Wishes for the WILDaid Gala this coming week. I've donated use of "Southside" for a print for the auction. I wish I could donate more.

With corporate interests destroying the environment and loss of habitat and hunting (legal and illegal) decreasing biodiversity, organizations focused on political activism and education are vital.

To clarify, I am not opposed to hunting and support game hunting (deer and elk), especially since the wolf population is mostly eradicated. However, trophy hunting is a Neo-Colonial pursuit: there are too many people and the exotic species are too imperiled. Does some CEO really need a leopard trophy? Do NY businessmen really need to track down a wolf from a helicopter in Alaska? Whatever happened to honor in hunting, in the notion of " fair chase" ?

Earth is a beautiful home, without the wonderful animal species which enrich the human experience, it would be so flat, so "Brave New World" (Huxley). If you haven't read Aldo Leopold's "Think Like A Mountain", please look it up. It is a beautiful and enduring treatise.

Haiku Weekend Tshirts and More

2011-04-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

The Haiku Weekend Shodo design is featured

on a selection of t-shirts and totes to commemorate

the Haiku Society of America national

conference this June in Bend, OR.

Order securely online at:

http://www.zazzle.com/alxsw+gifts

OPTIONS ONLINE

Women

fashion hoody: logo on back

scoop neck tshirt : logo on back

both shirts have event title in small text over pocket area

Unisex / Men's

unisex hoody: logo on back

event title in small text on front pocket area

regular boxy t-shirt: logo on front

event title in large text on back

Tote/Carryall

canvas tote back: logo on 1 side

Haiku Posters by ALXSw

2011-04-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

Downtown Bling, OR at the Liberty Theatre

photo by an'ya, HSA

Haiku Book in Progress: 2011

2011-04-10T17:31:00.001-07:00

Also in Progress:

Haiku: 21 + 18

by ALXSw

Translated into Japanese

by Akihisa Yoshieda

Fourteen years of haiku

+ 5 years of shodo =

Kazuntiet19!

Bend Haiku Weekend, Bend, OR, June 3-5, 2011

2011-04-06T17:43:00.000-07:00

The poster design for Haiku Oregon's event in June is completed.

(Click on the title of this article for a readable downloadable version from Haiku Oregon's website.)

Thanks to an'ya and PeterB for an opportunity to contribute to

an innovative art and cultural event in Central Oregon.

I recently reviewed my work in sho-do and was able to use one

of my favorite paintings of 'enso' the zen circle. Some years ago, I was gifted a number of exotic and collectable books by a calligrapher leaving the US.

I poured over the best work of traditonal Zen Masters for five years.

It took me two years before I would even show anyone my work. I feel my greatest teaching from this study was learning the use of negative space. Because it was a quiet, isolated study, I adopted the seal of "Sitting Quietly".

Shodo is like hunting: a near miss is highly visible.

Shodo has an unforgiving element of flow, (wu wei) as a stroke cannot be repeated or corrected. You're either hot or you're...not.

Since I've mostly been focusing on my oil painting, I find this return visit into shodo a poignant reminder and yes, I want to do some more. How will it be after the five years of dedicated, isolated studio work in oils? I am curious, Grasshopper.

New Work: Sunday, 7 March, 2011

2011-03-07T00:03:00.000-08:00

Hammica

36 " square

oil/canvas

sold

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No Special Attitude: more cadmium red

2011-02-26T10:17:00.000-08:00

No Special Attitude (20 x 40")

Below: detail

NSA has sold

Composition in Blue: An Iconic Study

2011-02-23T21:36:00.001-08:00

Composition in Blue,
20 x 24", oil

Below:Detail images from Composition in Blue

Composition in Blue.

Informal Title:

Composition with milkweed, random thoughts,

two mimosa leaves (possibly a parasol), a rose,

a zygote, a thumbtack, a snapshot

taken at a photobooth in an aeropuerto, and a cenote.

The Mitote Series: in progress

2011-02-23T21:09:00.000-08:00

above: Mitote_1, 40 x 40 ", oil, 2 panels

below: Mitote_2, detail, 20 x 40", oil, 2 panels

In Gratitude

Spark Series

2011-02-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Spark in Blue, 12 x 20", oil on canvas.

Detail shown.

Spark in Yellow, 12 x 20", oil on canvas.

A third 'Spark in Grey', is a rich study in greys and blacks.

Not shown, but equally enigmatic.

ALXSw : WIldfire Series

2011-02-05T21:37:00.000-08:00

The Wildfire series is available for viewing in my

studio, following a recent exhibit in Bend, OR.

Fireplumes, 40" x 40 "(2 panels), oil on canvas.

Also in series: Ignition, 20" x 40 ", oil on canvas.

CountyLine, 20" x 40 ", oil on canvas.

Exhibits in Arizona TBA soon.

Art is Home.A

ALXSw Image of Hood River Bridge Makes the Cut

2010-09-20T17:47:00.000-07:00

The architectural image "2212", taken this February (in the rain of course) at Hood River, OR has been accepted for the b/w photography exhibit at the Carmel Art and Film Festival this October. This is the second year to be selected and I'm glad to be in the show. Last year's entry of "Smoke and Fog" won me a seven page feature in ARTWORKS this past Spring. Thank you Carmel Art and Film Festival.

click here to view 2212 and other recent abstracts

(http://alxsw.photoshelter.com/gallery-list)

P.S.Now, if I can win that online sweepstakes for a Luxury Weekend at the Festival! I'll be packing my best haute art wardrobe and my Wellies for the beach. How does TSA feel about wellies? In any case, cross your fingers for me.

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_________________

Photography Exhibition

October 7 – 30
Opening reception, Thursday, October 7

Carmel has a rich photography history, and we are committed to honoring that heritage. Through a juried process, 50 artists will be selected for a month long exhibition at the Marjorie Evans Gallery at the Sunset Community and Cultural Center in Carmel, California. One top winner will be featured inARTWORKS Magazine. Other awards TBA.

DIGIMARC includes images from ALXSw Portfolio

2010-08-16T17:46:00.000-07:00

redCanoe (detail) at BICA through Sept

Oops. Sorry if earlier link didn't work.

Digimarc corporate website is featuring images by creatives who use Digimarc embedding to protect online intellectual property. The slideshow is viewable at:

https://www.digimarc.com/solutions/images/community.asp.

ALXSw's images are number 13 and 14, with more to be added in the next weeks. There are some great images from many artists, so I suggest starting at number 1 !

For visual creatives online, Digimarc offers a variety of security features from digital signature to tracing downloads, and more. It's affordable and truly is must in the art biz. It's a jungle out there.

Sincerely Written!

ALXSw

Recent Paintings 2010 with an Addendum

2010-07-15T17:11:00.000-07:00

goAhead, waste your precious life

16 x 20 inches / 2010

I am looking for an industrial space with room
for many large paintings, islands of simple comfort,
a claw foot tub by a sink, a small cooking area with
a tiny frig, a place to hang my hammock (best sleeping
in the world from the Mayan tradtion). It must not be
expensive: I am not a 'kept' artist. It is safe. It's home
for art as Art is Home.

Where is Refugea?
TBA.

In gratitude, Auspiciously Yours, ALXSw

Recent Work with Soundtrack by Thom Brennan

2010-03-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

The first time I heard "Signals in Moonlight" I was captured

by the synchronistic yearning in the composition and how I

felt at "place X'. I emailed Thom Brennan and several

weeks later, I recieved his limited use approval for a video short

on youtube. I know there's a lot of music 'borrowing' going

on, but I feel copyright infringement = copyright infringement.

Artists, especially, need to respect each other's talent. More

Thom Brennan music can be heard at: www.thombrennan.com.

I just finished the editing today, after swimming long hours

yesterday and enjoying the first baptimal swim of the season.

Halleluia, oh swirling waters!

The video is in web streaming, so I do wish I could present

it to you in 'full quality". If you would like a better copy let me

know. Suffice it to say, I painted the time and place of

"Place X' repeatedly, since I didn't make it in person this

year. My heart was there everyday, amidst the routine

and studio work of 'Place Y'. I'll return when it's correct.

All good, ALXSw

click here for artVideo

ALXSw at Zazzle.com

2010-03-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

ALXSw_com Store

Now online at Zazzle

The images are black and white or high contrast images customizeable for everything from grocery bags to tshirts. The retail is minimally above wholesale to encourage buying two and saving on shipping. I've ordered the t's in the organic cottons and the shirts are very nicely made. The cards are also well printed with UV coating on the cover. There is also ALXSw postage stamps, just pennies more for the original design. I am continually adding more designs.

Please visit and let me know your thoughts:

www.zazzle.com/ALXSw_com

Art is Home

ALXSw Photography in ARTWORKS Spring Issue 2010

2010-03-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

smoke and fog, OR, 2008

----------

Wow. The following arrived from ARTWORKS magazine in association with the Carmel Art and FIlm Festival Photography Competition, October 2009, Carmel, CA.

Excerpt from the Editor of ARTWORKS: " Congratulations! As I mentioned, you were selected to be our featured photographer for the Carmel Art & FIlm festival. Your work will be featured in our 7-PAGES of photography section in our Spring issue. " Print copies will be on the newstands in April ; there is also an online version.

ARTWORKS online:
http://www.artworksmagazine.com/

CARMEL ART & FILM:
http://www.carmelartandfilm.com/
----------------------------

ABOUT THE IMAGE 'Smoke and Fog'. Taken in the early morning, with my Leica V Lux 100, on my way to the Rattle Fire incident on the east side of Roseburg.

Nomination: B/W Spider Awards, 5 March

2010-02-24T17:23:00.000-08:00

My favorite kind of email:

Dear alxs,

CONGRATULATIONS! on being a Nominee at the 5th Annual Black & White Spider Awards with your image(s) Water Tower: Stairs (Nominated - Architectural). Thousands of images were received and your work received a high percentage of votes overall. Certainly an achievement, well done!

The Jury passionately reviewed the entries before making their final nominations and after eight weeks of voting honored 84 title awards in 28 categories. The Awards could not have asked for a better group of professionals to work with.

The 5th Annual Photo Show was attended by 35,000 online viewers who logged on live from 154 countries to see the winners and nominees. This is the biggest audience to date for the Spider Awards and its participating photographers.

Congratulations once again on being a Nominee and we wish you a most successful photography year.

Kind regards,
Basil O'Brien
Creative Director

MAGAZINE: The company has launched a new international photography magazine, The Photo Paper, and will publish all the winning and nominated images from the 5th Annual Awards in the fourth edition, available December 2010. www.thephotopaper.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

View the image at www.spiderawards.com: :
http://www.thespiderawards.com/gallery5/gallery.php?fid=47013&cid=42&g=n

While you're there...don't forget to peruse the fantastic images in all categories of the competition and I feel you will enjoy the excellent viewing.

REPOSTt about the artBook: The Water Tower Series: Summer 2009

Redmond, Oregon, May, 2009.

On the east bank of the Highway 97 parkway, a turquoise water tower rises like a steel yurt, an industrial assemblage of welded steel plates garnished with strange tornado-shapes and rectangles painted over graffiti tags in hues of turquoise.

Photographer - painter ALXSw (Alexis West) documented the water tower at sunset and during an approaching thunder storm. The images presented in this book were minimally edited, if at all.

This series is a reportage of a structure that is, to this artist, a three-dimensional color field that changes with the light of day, like an enormous mood ring. The tower is an urban shrine to hues of oxidation, nuances of telephone wire shadows, streaks from wind blowing grass flowers in an arch. The water tower is an industrial icon that is both common and enormous, unnoticed, with stairs that seem to lead to infinity.

UhOhAlert: the city of Redmond has announced plans to paint the blue tower: t a n. Disappointing. Can you say, "why, why do it" ? In any case, it is what it is and the photo book is now very much a photo-docUmentary. Hurry to take a circular visual tour of the tower in blue! Best, A
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1 To preview the reportage on blurb.com : http://www.blurb.com/user/store/alxsw
2 For signed editions contact me through my website or alxsw@alxsw.com
3 The hardcover edition is my favorite presentation. Prices are slightly above wholesale to 'stimulate' easy purchase.

Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks, ALXS

B I C A feb opening

2010-02-03T15:53:00.001-08:00

DOUBLE CLICK on Image to see full frame / read text

.

ALXSw recieves President's Award at the Florence Biennale 2009

2009-12-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

Today a FedX envelope arrived containing a President's Award certificate and
a Lorenzo il Magnifico award medallion. ALXSw was one of 20 artists to recieve
this award. A total of 800 artists participated in the event.
I am very happy and grateful. Thank you !

To view Award Listings at the Biennale website:
http://www.florencebiennale.org/ing_premiati09.html

CNN VIDEO footage of Biennale from :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w8JuTpGezE&NR=1
----------------------------------

ALXSw Paintings at the Biennale:
1
redCircles
http://www.alxsw.com/redCircles.html
2
5circles
http://www.alxsw.com/5circles.html
3
landscape 2
http://www.alxsw.com/landscape%202.htm

___________________________________________

My congratulations to all award winners!
I look forward to the 2011 Biennale.

A - 22 December, 2009/Updated 17 Jan 2010

'5' at COOS ART MUSEUM EXHIBIT

2009-12-14T20:43:00.000-08:00

VIEW ONLINE AT COOS ART MUSEUM WEBSITE:
http://coosart.org/cutting-edge/slideshow/IGNORE/index.htm.
ALXSw painting is on page 4 of the views in the w's.

EXHIBIT INFO:
December 11, 2009 to February 13, 2010
On the Cutting Edge-Collage Regional
Coos Art Museum, OR

ABOUT THE PAINTING:
20 x 24 "
metallic medium / oils with found objects: 2 paper discs, a plastic number 5 found in Naches, WA,
and the letters: f -i- v- e.

Update on Florence Biennale 2009

2009-12-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

----

YOUTUBE SHORT VERSION w/music by Brian Blade ( ! ):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4szA_zO8b4U

For additional video shorts: search 'florence biennale 2009" .

b i c a: dec 09 - feb 10

2009-12-01T06:17:00.000-08:00

punch line, oil, 9 x 12 inches, gallery wrap

detail of oracle bones, oil, 20 x 24 inches, gallery wrap

oracle bones, oil, 20 x 24 inches, gallery wrap

ALXSw will be exhibiting three paintings at the december 09 - feb 10 salon style
exhibit at bend contemporary independent art, (bend, oregon, us):
bone oracle,
punch line,
and
white kimono. (images soon)

These are smaller paintings and are from the series "the 10,ooo things". another painting of this series is mentioned in
the coos art museum exhibit through february, and is titled " 5_five".

painting '5' goes to the coast

2009-10-31T09:07:00.000-07:00

'five-5' has been juried into the group collage exhibit
"the Cutting Edge: west coast artists using collage and assemblage"

view online at this url:
http://coosart.org/cutting-edge/slideshow/IGNORE/index.htm.
ALXSw painting is on page 4 of the views in the w's.

EXHIBIT INFO:
December 11, 2009 - February 13, 2010
On the Cutting Edge-Collage Regional
Coos Art Museum, OR
235 Anderson Ave,
Coos Bay, OR 97420.

why did i paint '5'?
@ 1998. my first oblique association with finding a '5' was in arizona, hiking in the wupatki nat'l park backcountry.

far into a back canyon i found a chiseled '5' in an upright slab of sandstone. monument staff reported they were not familiar with what it was doing there. i have images of this '5' and hopefully it's still out there, passed frequently by the porcupine i found nearby, a turf for fence and collard lizards.

summer 2009 . my second encounter of a '5' occurred during an early am walk on a fire assignment in naches, wa. (not nachOs, nachEs)(*1) in the gravel behind a shopping mall, i found a plastic '5' weathered and broken. i picked it up and stuck it in my thin notepad to keep it from breaking further. later, i transferred it to my car and promptly forgot about it, until i cleaned my car. i placed it in the 'strange things' box, where it eventually made it's way into the painting.

combined with the circles i glued into my painting, it makes a story. there's a clown, a '5', and some doors to accompany the circles. i paint a lot of circles, many doors, maybe windows. i like light. i like a soft breeze. i like a good story. i like a good '5'.
A

oceanCircles

2009-10-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

3 panels 30 x 60 inches each
oil on ceconite
resolved 26 october, 2009

october 2009 #2: online competition

2009-10-05T20:04:00.000-07:00

AMERICAN ART AWARDS.com

http://www.americanartawards.com/home.html

http://www.americanartawards.com/2009winnersawards.html

CATEGORY 45 -- NONMANIPULATED PHOTOGRAPHY LANDSCAPE: ALXSw - 2nd TIE 'smoke and fog'

see october entry # 1

CATEGORY 46 -- NONMANIPULATED PHOTOGRAPHY STILL LIFE: ALXSw - 5th 'chiapas after the rain'

CATEGORY 25 -- MINIMALISM: ALXSw - 3rd for 'satori 1'

60 x 60 inches / oil

CATEGORY 25 -- MINIMALISM: ALXSw - 3rd for 'satori 1' & ALXSw - 4th for 'red circles'

30 x 60 inches/ oil

october 2009: carmel, ca exhibit

2009-10-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

carmel art and film festival, oct 8 - 30, 2009

http://carmelartandfilm.com/

PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW Opening Night Reception, October 8. Exhibition, October 8th – 30th Carmel has a legendary photography history, and we would like to honor that heritage. Through a juried process, 50 artists will be selected for a month long exhibition at the Marjorie Evans Gallery at the Sunset Center in Carmel, California. Ten top winners from this group will be given a group show at the FARMANI Gallery, in New York City. One top winner will be featured in ARTWORKS Magazine.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

florence biennale: december 2009

2009-09-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

ALXSw one of artists representing the us.

here is the link to the listings of artists> this link opens to the w group: http://www.florencebiennale.org/ing_galleria.html#w

photography series: ocotillo and red door

2009-08-21T19:13:00.000-07:00

five images in the ocotillo series.
some with small, briliantly colored red flowers.
ocotillo can grow into a formidable fence= keep out, seriously.

red door series complete with .22 bullet holes.
sensational door.
nine images in the series.

mexico travelogue at chloe's, rdm

2009-08-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

chiapas after the rain (R) and guaymas window (L)

adobe fields at entrance to lounge

exhibit through mid-october 2009

1 blue circle

2009-07-05T12:27:00.001-07:00

entire painting

detail

48 x 24 inches.
image of entire painting is also on my website:
http://www.alxsw.com/1blueCircle.html

chiapas after the rain: IA21.org + chloe's in redmond

2009-06-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

1 5th Place in American Art Award for NONMANIPULATED PHOTOGRAPHY STILL LIFE

1 + 1 = 2

2
Artsite IA21.org has chosen the photograph "Chiapas After The Rain"
as one of the featured pieces for the home page this month.

IA21 offers website templates and art registery. Check it out at:
http://www.ia21.org/ .

3
the new Chloe in redmond (sister restaurant in sisters, of course)
features several 'yucatan travelogue' images in the bar. what a great venue: cranberry colored walls and as
always, over the top menu. my personal favorites: the lamb and coconut flan = a bit of heaven on earth.
i would not kid you about flan.

Ciao, A

ALXSw articles in GO ( Bulletin), the Spokesman, Arts and Entertainment

2009-06-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

Link to the article in Bend Bulletin's GO weekend magazine for 26 June, 2009.

http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20090626/AE/906260309/1162/AE&emailed_article=1

ALXSw: The Water Tower Series

2009-06-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

Redmond, Oregon, May, 2009.

On the east bank of the Highway 97 parkway, a turquoise water tower rises like a steel yurt, an industrial assemblage of welded steel plates garnished with strange tornado-shapes and rectangles painted over graffiti tags in hues of turquoise.

Photographer - painter ALXSw (Alexis West) documented the water tower at sunset and during an approaching thunder storm. The images presented in this book were minimally edited, if at all.

This series is a reportage of a structure that is, to this artist, a three-dimensional color field that changes with the light of day, like an enormous mood ring. The tower is an urban shrine to hues of oxidation, nuances of telephone wire shadows, streaks from wind blowing grass flowers in an arch. The water tower is an industrial icon that is both common and enormous, unnoticed, with stairs that seem to lead to infinity.

UhOhAlert: the city of Redmond has announced plans to paint the blue tower: t a n. Disappointing. Can you say,"boring uninspiring architecture" ? Can you say, "why, why do it" ? In any case, it is what it is and the photo book is now very much a photo-docUmentary.

Hurry to take a circular visual tour of the tower in blue! Best, A
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1 To preview the reportage on blurb.com : http://www.blurb.com/user/store/alxsw
2 For signed editions contact me through my website or alxsw@alxsw.com
3 The hardcover edition is my favorite presentation. Prices are slightly above wholesale to 'stimulate' easy purchase.

Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks, ALXS

for people who don’t understand modern art

2009-06-08T22:06:00.001-07:00

This remains one of the most refined and articulate explanations of Modern Art: Clement Greenberg, New York art critic, in his essay After Abstract Expressionism, first published in Art International, VI, no.8, October 1962. The quote references Barnett Newman...

"The onlooker who says his child could paint a Newman may be right, but Newman would have to be there to tell the child exactly what do do. The exact choices of colour, medium, size, shape, proportion -- including the size and shape of the support -- are what alone determine the quality of the result, and these choices depend solely on inspiration or conception."

20 x 20

2009-05-23T11:33:00.001-07:00

my private OR
20 x 20
oil w/ collage

sold

representing b i c a ( bend independent contemporary art, bend, or) in the august Art150 auction.

circle series

2009-05-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

5circles
30 x 60 inches (152.4 cm x 76.2 cm)
oil on stretched ceconite
from 'circle series'
exhibiting in florence at the biennale, dec 09

Navajo Scouts at the cold springs fire, WA, 2008

2009-04-18T18:21:00.000-07:00

this was taken as the Navajo Scouts were about to
board their busses for home after their tour at
the cold springs fire 2008. A

doubleClick for larger version

BLM crew at the cold springs fire, 2008

2009-04-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

lunch break for a BLM crew on the cold springs fire, WA.
download this file and print...to view large version, double click
on the small image.

A

Apache Crew at the cold springs fire, WA 2008

2009-04-18T17:56:00.000-07:00

after a long day of back hauling hose lay
(that's fire talk for carrying out cotton waterhose),
members of the Mescalero Apache Crew pose for a formal
documentary picture.

to view the larger version,
just double click on the small image.

to print...click and drag the file
to your computer desktop

circles in green

2009-04-18T13:45:00.000-07:00

here is an image of one of my current series exploring circles. curiously enough, after four years of refining the circle 'enso' in personal studies of zen calligraphy, i've had to unlearn making a perfect circle. yin-yang-yes-no-here-there, i guess. stay tuned for show announcement for europe. viva spring!

sitting quietly with my deWalt sander

2009-03-30T16:58:00.000-07:00

high of the day: sanding down some paintings that had too many layers, too many old stories.
buzzing and whirling a new start with my sander (oooh power tools are not just for boys).
the canvases started to morph into very industrial planes. next will move into some pure color soul transparent color field overlay...but for now Sitting Quietly, enjoying the clean, eager new surface blushing for color.

un edited video

2009-03-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

this short video is a simple, unedited, pan of march opening at B I C A - Bend Independent Contemporary Art Gallery, bend, or, us
located in the nw crossing village area, bend, or. thanks to all who helped make the event lively and interesting, and to Coleen and Andy, owners. the pan begins with Alan Brandt's photography in the background and travels across the south wall where my 'satori series' is displayed month of march. the third artist in the 3-artist show is Scott Conary, whose very fine paintings are not in this quick sketch, i apologize...as i was distracted at the next moment and forgot to re turn.
A

buddha is a stripe & thank U radiohead video

2009-03-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

B.Schwabsky on contemporary art

2009-03-08T11:11:00.000-07:00

someone recently asked me about the difference between modern art and contemporary art. ive noticed that few people really want or need the whole scoop, the whole enchilada, about art once one leaves art or grad school. nevertheless, i offer the following quote from a very masterful writing to anyone really wanting a thorough explanation.

"We are used to hearing that Modernism - the period from Impressionism through Abstraction to Conceptual Art - was imbued with the idea of progress. If abstract painting represented a kind of progress, it was essentially in the form of consciousness of something that was always inherent in painting... so there are 2 reasons that talking about today's painting means seeing it against the background of Modernist paintings. One is that the situation of the 2 seem remarkably similar ...the deepening self-consciousness is the only form of progress that could have credibly placed abstract painting
beyond representation, or Conceptual Art beyond abstraction, here too the distinction may be best imagined as a difference in consciousness...today's painting is not necessarily more conscious than Modernist painting, but it is conscious of different things. Contemporary painting contends that art is not one thing and that, therefore, no one way of looking is sufficient; one must always be prepared to add new aesthetic axioms...it is precisely through this call for flexibility over commitment that contemporary art ( of which painting is just one part ) claims a higher degree of self-consciousness than Modernism.

Every artist is called upon to invest a unique stance or postition that differentials him or her from other practioners. But paradoxically, in such a situation, self-invention itself becomes the primary subject that unites all otherwise distinct and even contradictory projects..."

Barry Schwabsky, Vitamin P, Phaidon Press, (2008), pgs. 006 - 008. ISBN 0714844462

here is the link to the reference:
http://www.phaidon.com/Default.aspx/Print/vitamin-p-9780714844466

Invisible off to Gallery Aferro

2009-03-01T18:49:00.001-08:00

after an afternoon of salsa music and dancing around the studio, blended with a slight uphill learning curve familiarizing myself with my new de walt power drill (grrrrrrr!), i was ready for fed x pickup of the crate holding 'invisble'. yes, that was a run-on sentence. thanks for visiting. ALXSw

ALXSw at BICA's March Opening 2009

2009-01-22T00:02:00.000-08:00

ALXSw will be one of three artists represented at BICA's evening
opening, Friday, March 06, 2009. Selected works from West's
Landscape Series and Satori Series will be exhibited. Opening
hours are 5 - 8 pm. BICA's new website is in the works, but
the temporary webspot provides an overview of artists and
location.

ALXSw: www.alxsw.com/painting0.htm.
select: satori 1 - 5 and landscape 1 - 3 in menu on
the right.

RattleMeYeah: wildfire video on youtube.com

2009-01-07T12:03:00.000-08:00

image credit: ian harper, firefighter, 2009.

As part of my public information detail on the Rattle Fire (2009) I complied a video short from images provided by firefighters, incident management team members, and other personnel working the wildfire,
including myself. This was not footage compiled from a film crew with lots of '3 chip toys', dollies, and a high end caterer.

The low resolution quality of the production was unavoidable as the dpi (dots per inch) of most of the source imagery was 72. I feel the truth of the images is the" in situ" authenticity of shots taken on the run, with phone cameras and small, portable digitals pulled out of packs chucked around in all types of fire rigs: cameras dusty from the grimy work that is inherent in firefighting.

DJ Cam, French hip-hop artist, authorized limited use of his cut "Success", ' D J Cam Revisited' ( 2005). While I am a total fan of this artist, I chose this music for two reasons: it is of a genre that a lot of firefighters listen to on their iPods off shift and the message of the jam is exactly aligned with incident command system practices. "Learn from your mistakes, learn from your success, that's how you do best." It was my expectation that some of the older guard would not enjoy the hip-hop style, however, I thought if they could hear through the music to the message they might be... less annoyed. I am a total fan but

In reviewing some of the commentary, I feel pleased that the video provoked strong sentiment either liked or disliked emphatically. Such a response is a complement, I prefer passion to mediocrity.

The video can be viewed on youtube.com at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt4_uZXhgwI.

Running time is 9 minutes. And yes the presence of helicopters was not overstated,
I rather missed them after I left fire camp.

NOTE ON THE COMMENTS BELOW:
Comments submitted below are in addition to the postings on youtube.com.
I 've abbreviated the names for that sake of participants.

********************************
An interesting presentation.
For the heck of it -------------------> On the 1st View ---> Watch it w/o sound & get an impression.
On the 2nd View ---------------> Turn the sound on.
I'd be interested in your comments.
Getting 5 STARS on the tube!!
Another retiree

********************************
Yesterday, I sent your message home and watched the video there again last night. The video portion was somewhat hard to watch from a production standpoint. Too many quick shots that your mind doesn't have enough time to absorb, and too many repeated shots. That seems to be the modern trendy way of doing it.
The audio part was really painful to listen to, with the exception of the chainsaws and the helicopters. They were fine and quite appropriate for the video. The so-called music was the painful part. Repetitive and monotonous techno noise. That may appeal to a decidedly younger crowd, but not most of the rest of us. I guess it depends on what the purpose of the video is. If it was intended for a wider audience, it missed the mark. If like you suggested, it is for a recruiting tool for younger potential firefighters, it may, or still may not hit it. I'm pretty out of touch with the X and Y generations but I do know that a lot of them are getting into the more classic type pop, rock, and country music, some of which was made before they were born. Would that not still appeal to the major portion of them? Good question and I don't have the answer. Some at least, and I know the video would get better "mileage" with more universally acceptable music and style. B D,retired -----------

********************************
Pretty cool! Great music- lucky to get it.
I felt that it re-cast the image of wildland firefighting as a sexy, exciting, on-trend career choice- more like what our young firefighting cadre are really like than our stuffy, more conventional portrayals! With more actual firefighter images it could be great for recruiting!
It reminded me never, NEVER, to be a faller on a fire. scary....

Hope you're well and happy New year.
J. H. Public Affairs, Recreation, X NF

*******************************
From a student employee:
1. Few people have concept of wildland firefighting. Video helps to get the concept out there. Video appeals to Gen X andY'ers
2. Video is too long for Gen y'ers -- they'll move on after 3 minutes, especially given the fuzziness in the beginning of the video
3. Seems like a recruiting film. It makes firefighting seem sexy, exciting, and fun. Not sure it depicts the challenges of fighting the Rattle Fire.
4. If you stick out the 9 minutes, you get a good idea of wildfire fighting but there isn't a distinct informational message.

**************************

gallery aferro exhibit: tabula rasa: invisible

2008-12-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

alxs w's work was recently accepted into a juried show opening at gallery aferro in march 09. (see below: UNO) her work, entitled 'invisible', is a color field painting: rather raw with hidden planes of texture and flat metallic surfaces. in the center of the piece is the word 'invisible', slightly readable, which means you will not miss it, but parts of the letters are finished by what your eye knows, if you know english. then if you gaze at particular angles the word is complete. get it/sabes?

so this work is not invisible as with the emperor's new paintings, but is a commentary on perception and socialization. alxs w would be annoyed if i were to go into this piece any more literally. she would feel i am cheating you of y o u r experience of this painting: nuance of color, shadow, areas of color field, the meaning of 'invisible' through the filters of your five senses and the sixth one . . . also invisible.

----
NOTE: you may view a flat jpg of this work at http://www.alxsw.com/invisible.html. do remember that a painting is best viewed in person.
----

tabula rasa suggested journeys:

UNO: http://www.aferro.org/websitebaker/wb/pages/home.php
DOS: exhibit card: posting as soon as available.
TRES: Tabula Rasa at Gallery Aferro
Curated by Evonne M. Davis
March 21 - May 16, 2009
Opening Reception March 21, 7-10 PM