Alexis Rockman
Hong Kong, 2020
Born in 1962 in New York, Alexis Rockman has depicted a darkly surreal vision of the collision between civilization and nature – often apocalyptic scenarios on a monumental scale – for over three decades. Notable solo museum exhibitions include “Alexis Rockman: Manifest Destiny” at the Brooklyn Museum (2004), which traveled to several institutions including the Wexner Center for the Arts (2004) and the Rhode Island School of Design (2005). In 2010, the Smithsonian American Art Museum organized “Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow,” a major touring survey of his paintings and works on paper. Concurrent with Rockman’s 2013 exhibition at Sperone Westwater, the Drawing Center mounted “Drawings from Life of Pi,” featuring the artist’s collaboration with Ang Lee on the award-winning film Life of Pi. His series of 76 New Mexico Field Drawings was included in “Future Shock” at SITE Santa Fe (2017-18). “Alexis Rockman: The Great Lakes Cycle,” a major exhibition of large-scale paintings, watercolors and field drawings, toured the Midwest in 2018-20, opening at the Grand Rapids Art Museum and traveling to five institutions in the Great Lakes region. “Alexis Rockman: Shipwrecks,” opened at the Peabody Essex Museum (2021) and traveled to Guild Hall (2021), Ackland Art Museum (2022), and Princeton University Art Museum (2022). The Mystic Seaport Museum presented “Alexis Rockman: Oceanus,” featuring ten large-scale watercolors and an 8-by-24-foot panoramic painting commissioned by the museum for their permanent collection (2023-24). “Alexis Rockman and Mark Dion: A Journey to Nature’s Underworld” was presented at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT (2023) and traveled to the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (2024). It will be on view at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY until 5 January 2025, before traveling to additional venues in 2025. Rockman’s work is represented in many museum collections, including the Baltimore Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Grand Rapids Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; New Orleans Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Whitney Museum of American Art. Rockman’s first solo exhibition with Sperone Westwater, “Evolution,” was presented in 1992. He has had subsequent solo exhibitions at the gallery in 2013, 2018, 2020-21 and 2023. He lives and works in Warren, Connecticut.
View the artist's website.
Downloadables
Alexis Rockman
Exfoliation, 2023
oil and cold wax on wood
48 x 40 x 2 inches (121,9 x 101,6 x 5,1 cm)
SW 23053
Alexis Rockman
The USS Jeannette, 2023
oil and cold wax on wood
48 x 80 x 2 inches (121,9 x 203,2 x 5,1 cm)
SW 23047
Alexis Rockman
Cham Sculpture, 2020
watercolor and acrylic on paper
18 x 24 inches (45,7 x 61 cm)
21 1/8 x 27 x 2 inches (53,7 x 68,6 x 5,1 cm) frame
SW 20152
Alexis Rockman
Eustacy, 2021
oil and wax on wood
48 x 40 inches (121,9 x 101,6 cm)
SW 21071
Private Collection
Alexis Rockman
Terminal Moraine, 2021
oil and wax on wood
48 x 40 inches (121,9 x 101,6 cm)
SW 21070
Private Collection
Alexis Rockman
Lost Art, 2020
oil on wood
40 x 28 inches (101,6 x 121,9 cm)
SW 21010
Alexis Rockman
Junk, 2019
watercolor, ink, and acrylic on paper
18 x 24 inches (45,7 x 60,9 cm)
20 1/8 x 25 7/8 inches (51 x 65,7 cm) frame
SW 19337
Alexis Rockman
Tree of Extinction, 2018
watercolor, ink and acrylic on paper
24 x 18 1/4 inches (61 x 45,7 cm)
SW 18104
Private Collection
Alexis Rockman
Trillium, 2017
watercolor, ink and acrylic on paper
74 x 52 inches (188 x 132 cm)
SW 17349
Alexis Rockman
Chimera, 2017
watercolor, ink and acrylic on paper
73 3/8 x 52 inches (186 x 132 cm)
SW 17350
Alexis Rockman
Pioneers, 2017
oil and alkyd on wood
72 x 144 inches (182,9 x 365,8 cm)
SW 17345
Alexis Rockman
New Mexico Field Drawings, 2017
organic material and acrylic polymer on paper
76 drawings; dimensions variable
SW 17344
Alexis Rockman
Natural History of New York City (Walrus), 2016
sand and acrylic polymer on paper
18 x 24 inches (45,7 x 61 cm)
20 x 26 inches (50,8 x 66 cm) frame
SW 18083
Alexis Rockman
Hoarfrost, 2014
oil and alkyd on wood
44 x 56 x 2 inches (111,7 x 139,7 x 5 cm)
SW 14038
Alexis Rockman
Bronx Zoo, 2012-2013
oil on wood; triptych
84 x 168 inches (213,4 x 427 cm) overall
84 x 56 x 2 inches( 213,4 x 142,2 x 5,1 cm) each panel
SW 13162
Alexis Rockman
Untitled (Cherry Blossoms), 2013
watercolor, ink and gouache on paper
72 1/2 x 52 inches (184,2 x 132,1 cm)
75 7/8 x 55 1/8 x 2 1/4 inches (193 x 140 x 6 cm) frame
SW 13288
Alexis Rockman
Untitled (Monarchs), 2013
watercolor and gouache on paper
72 1/2 x 52 inches (184,2 x 132,1 cm)
75 7/8 x 55 1/8 x 2 1/4 inches (193 x 140 x 6 cm) frame
SW 13321
Alexis Rockman
Untitled (Jellyfish), 2013
watercolor, ink and gouache on paper
72 1/2 x 52 inches (184,2 x 132,1 cm)
75 7/8 x 55 3/8 x 2 1/4 inches (193 x 141 x 6 cm) frame
SW 13287
Private Collection
Alexis Rockman
Untitled (Effluent), 2013
watercolor on paper
24 x 18 1/8 inches (61 x 46 cm)
SW 13316
Alexis Rockman
Untitled, 2013
watercolor on paper
24 x 18 inches (61x 46 cm)
25 7/8 x 20 x 1 9/16 (65,7 x 51 x 4 cm) frame
SW 13212
Exhibitions
Untitled (Giotto's O)
Sperone Westwater, Lugano
30 November 2012 – 15 February 2013
Recent Acquisitions
Biggs, Bogin, Kortick, Nahas, Reeves, Rockman, Sachs
Sperone Westwater, New York
December 1998
Alexis Rockman
Sperone Westwater, New York
1 October – 28 November 1992
