Going gothic: Alex Chavez explores themes of mortality through the human figure
Aug. 11—Weave the skull-like imagery of the Day of the Dead with goth's dark spell, and you get the artwork of Alex Chavez.
On view at Santa Fe's Keep Contemporary through Aug. 26, the Taos artist's exhibition "Tabula Rasa" explores themes of mortality through the human figure.
Through a parade of whitefaced women slashed by stitching or black scarring, Chavez seeks to celebrate the human spirit in all of its ephemerality.
"My goal is to create a form, a portrait of a human being with some kind of depth so you can see the thinking behind their eyes," Chavez said. "People want to know who the person is."
Born in Los Angeles and a graduate from the College of Fine Arts at California State College, Fullerton, Chavez began his artistic practice working with watercolors and acrylics. He switched to oils when he moved to Taos in 1997, where his mother was born.
"My maternal roots were we'd visit and feel more balanced here," he said. "I'd go back to LA and feel really out of balance. We both felt it was a better place to raise kids."
Chavez worked as a graphic designer and muralist in California. Then he began designing websites and teaching website design at the University of New Mexico in Taos.
He resigned in 2013 to become a full-time professional artist.
The artist describes his style as classic in the tradition of Old Masters such as John Singer Sargent, Velásquez and Rembrandt.
"I use professional paints and varnishes they used back then," he said.
To create his portraits, he uses copyright-free photographic references obtained on the internet, forming a composite.
He often paints from his iPad, using the grid method to transfer his images to canvas.
The Day of the Dead theme first arrived as a marketing technique, he acknowledged. Fascinated by the makeup and costuming, he's also drawn to tribal ideas.
The goth theme grew from his punk rock years in California.
"The snakes, the skulls, today it's scary and frightening to people," he said. "Then it was part of life, a transition like going to sleep and dreaming.
"In LA, Day of the Dead has gotten very spectacular," he continued. "The costumes are of Hollywood quality. They have a huge ceremony in a cemetery in Hollywood."
His work sometimes reveals a hint of French Carnival.
Chavez describes his work as a mashup of these themes. Lately he's been adding props like bats, insects and roses.
He's also moving into full figures and multiple figures, exploring the intricacy and mystery of body language.
"I'm trying to show we're all just from one tribe with all these cultural things in common, like pagan and pre-Christian rites," he said.
He says his next figures will be no less than 2 feet tall, with multiple forms and pairings.
"My definition of art is I have the tenacity to suffer through and fail and fail and fail until I get what I want," he added. "When I'm alone with my painting, I'm transcending."
Chavez's work has been acquired by multiple public collections, including the Museum of International Folk Art and the National Hispanic Cultural Center, as well as the purchase of a painting for the set of the TV hit series "Breaking Bad." He was recognized by the New Mexico Senate in 2005 and received a blue ribbon for his work in 2007 from the Contemporary Hispanic Market in Santa Fe.