Episode Twenty-Six features Mexican-French emerging artist Alexis de Chaunac. He was born in New York City and raised in Mexico City and Paris. As a child living in Mexico, he grew up surrounded by his mother’s family and his grandparent’s friends which included Mexican artists, intellectuals, historians, poets, diplomats, and writers.
These brilliant minds had a profound impact on Alexis at an early age and as a result, he draws from subjects such as literature, religion, art history and politics which overlap with his interests that include natural sciences, biology and botany.
In April 2019, he exhibited at Sargent’s Daughters Gallery in New York. Alexis has also exhibited through group and solo shows in major museums in Mexico (Museo Carrillo Gil, Pinacoteca Diego Rivera) and at Zona MACO art fair in Mexico City.
After receiving his BA from Sarah Lawrence College, Alexis is currently pursuing his MFA in the Painting and Drawing department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Below are several links about Alexis de Chaunac’s work and those that influenced him as a child. Also included is the Jerry Saltz New York Magazine story stating that the exhibition “Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945” at the Whitney Museum was one of the most relevant shows of the 21st century.
Enjoy.
https://www.alexisdechaunac.com/
http://columbiajournal.org/years-friendship-alexis-de-chaunac/
https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-how-trilingual-painter-alexis-de-chaunac-wrestles-with
https://www.whitewall.art/art/alexis-de-chaunac-a-dance-with-life-death
https://www.vulture.com/2020/02/vida-americana-the-most-relevant-show-of-the-21st-century.html
Influencers include
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Luis_Cuevas
https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/08/archives/cuevas-displays-his-mastery-of-line.html
https://hammer.ucla.edu/radical-women/artists/ximena-cuevas
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7533624/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavio_Paz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homero_Aridjis
Darwin in contact with nature, 2019, ink, watercolor, wax, pigment and color pencils on paper, 18.5 x 11.5 in (47 x 29 cm)
