“Paintings by Ken Alexander” at the Trenton Free Public Library is an overview of the work of the Trenton-based artist whose vision goes beyond seeing — literally.
Part of the “Fresh Art” series of exhibitions developed between the 45-year-old Trenton Artists Workshop Association (TAWA) and the Trenton Free Public Library, the show officially opens with a reception on Thursday, December 14, and continues through January 27.
During a recent telephone interview, Alexander notes that he is largely self-taught. He is also legally blind.
He says his journey began in Asbury Park. The son of Linda Alexander and Earl Riller, the future artist was raised by his mother who worked various jobs and made sure her son was educated.
It was in the 1980s that the then-high school student became aware of his drawing and painting abilities and became more interested in art.
Unable to afford to go to art school — he says he lived mainly in the “projects” for low-income groups — Alexander honed his skills by finding life-drawing classes and visiting museums and galleries in New York City.
Realizing that his passion for art was not something that would provide his daily bread, Alexander set on a path on which he could continue his art practice while working as a restaurant chef.
He says he realized an artistic breakthrough in 1996 when a painting that he donated for an AIDS benefit fund was sold and built on the aesthetic approach he used: imitation and emulation.
For Alexander, sources of inspiration came from modern, post-modern art movements as well as from the sources that inspired early 20th century European paintings and African art — the latter becoming part of his collection of Chiwara and Dogon masks and various artifacts.
Another influence, he says, is music, especially be-bop jazz, as demonstrated in his 1999 painting “Jazz Jam,” featuring a jazz quartet in a style reminiscent of Matisse or Picasso.
Alexander says his artistic career began to progress further with more art shows and presentations. That included a 2000 solo exhibition at Asbury Park’s El Lobo Negro Art Gallery where he received the “Artist of the Month” award. He also began to sell more art.
While happy with such developments, Alexander admits to being apprehensive about the effect that market success may have on his creativity and chose to delve into more meaningful and personal aesthetic endeavors.
That includes uncomfortable or controversial subjects, such as his “Portrait of Malcolm X,” the African-American human rights activist who was assassinated in 1965 by members of the Nation of Islam.
The piece pays homage to Malcolm X by adding a halo similar to those usually rendered for saints or martyrs. The painting also depicts instruments related to Malcom’s X’s martyrdom, such as the gunshots represented shooting targets in the lower register of the composition — featuring actual gunshots by the artist when he had perfect eyesight.
The work also uses a late 20th century neo-expressionist technique connected to American artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel whose works include collages made from broken pieces of ceramic ware.
Alexander says he was inspired to make visual “quotations” from Schnabel’s collages after he had met the noted artist. The technique also shows up in several other works by Alexander, including a portrait of artist Jean Michel Basquiat that is in the exhibition.
Another related painting is of jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis. In it, Alexander uses parts of a chandelier to represent the trumpet of Davis. The painting also reflects another artistic consideration, size. The exhibition includes several large works, including one over seven feet tall.
While he had seemed to find a path that balanced a full-time job as a chef at the Porch Restaurant in Asbury Park with his art making and African art collection, Alexander says something fateful happened in the early 2000s. Asbury Park began to bustle with residential and commercial restate sales, including the building in which he lived for 14 years.
That resulted in him sharing a nearby apartment with a girlfriend whom he accompanied when she moved to Trenton in 2006. And while that relationship grew, she eventually moved and Alexader stayed, dividing his time between Trenton and Asbury Park.
Then, he says, in 2016 his eyesight began to fail from severe glaucoma, and he went blind in his left eye. A year later, he underwent surgery that preserves 15 percent of his right eye vision.
Consequently, his artistic output has been reduced, and the current exhibition of color abstract to figurative works has been culled from the paintings in the Mill Hill loft he shares with his 15-year-old son, Zachariah.
About creating with limited eyesight and incorporating language and three-dimensional textures in his work, Alexander says, “I see art in a lot of different things, which otherwise go unnoticed even by those who are able to see.”
The Art of Ken Alexander, Trenton Free Public Library, 120 Academy Street, Trenton. Opening reception Thursday, December 14, 5 to 7 p.m. On view through January 27, 2024, Mondays through Thursdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information on the library, call 609-392-7188.
More information on the Trenton Artists Workshop Association can be found on the organization’s Facebook page.
