Alexis Rockman’s Art: An Environmental Call to Action
Alexis Rockman’s art is fascinating. I love how his paintings look—vivid, colorful, eye-popping. They are not only gorgeous visually, but also serve as a call to action. For instance, his recent “The Great Lakes Cycle,” have been described as “natural-history psychedelia” https://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/alexis_rockman.html. This recent series explores the geographical, physical, and ecological changes of the Great Lakes over the centuries. While celebrating the natural majesty and global importance of the Great Lakes, Rockman is at the same time depicting how the lakes are threatened by climate change, globalization, urban sprawl, big agriculture. He even paints depictions of the bacteria and viruses of invasive species to indicate their role in the ecology of the lakes. While in real life such bacteria are invisible to the naked eye, by making them visible in his work Rockman emphasizes how they are a tremendous force of change (though not always a good one).
In “Cascade” Rockman makes the viewer aware of the interrelations of living things, and by implication, the role of humans in impacting the health of our water and, indeed, all of the environment. We see smokestacks and fallen logs, the value of life-giving water, and are forced to think about how the elements relate. By increasing our awareness, Rockman is urging us not to be complacent and to take action to ensure the future of the planet.
