ABBERATIONS AN EXHIBIT
ARTIST ALEX BUCHANAN LIVES IN NEW BEDFORD YET IS A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD.
Alex Buchanan
Sucker For Sunsets, 2024
Retired blended synthetic hawser, VHP
58”x22”
A former mariner, Buchanan takes maritime industry material culture and techniques—rope, fishing nets, steel from clam cages, nautical knot tying–and lifts them out of the realm of utilitarian activity transfiguring them in the service of the sublime in his artworks.
Buchanan’s formally rigorous sculptures display a commanding technical bravura and an undeniable presence. Despite the rough-hewn quality of his materials, the sculptures radiate a tenderness and warmth evocative of the poetic minimalism of Arte Povera.
Mandala-like, many of Buchanan’s sculptures invite meditation. Their sumptuous textures and subtle gradients of color are best appreciated through extended contemplation. His acute awareness of and appreciation for the lifecycle of the rope he uses, and his reverence for its past usefulness recalls the Japanese word sabi — or “patina of time” — referring to a concept of faded beauty born of wear and age.
Aberration represents neither a retrospective of nor an introduction to Buchanan’s work, but instead showcases his impressive range, from the elegiac to the sardonic. Key genres are featured within his oeuvre: monumental intricate knots and austere three-dimensional rings, as well as sculptures that are humorous and playful riffs on pop culture, and have witty tongue-in-cheek titles.
Perhaps Buchanan’s work speaks across time and cultures most powerfully because his frame of reference is so expansive. His sources of inspiration have been rich and varied, spanning millennia to include 20th-century artists such as Eva Hesse, Christo, Andy Goldsworthy; quipu, an ancient Incan knotted string recording device still used by cultures in the Southeast Andes; topology, and the natural world. Not surprisingly, as a result of this panoply of thought, Buchanan’s work stirs a sense of awe and a deep emotional resonance in those who experience it.
Engaging in a kind of semiotic activism, his refined elegant forms invoke purity and function as environmental emblems, subtly critiquing our throwaway culture and compelling us to rethink our own behaviors related to consumption and reuse.
Aberration celebrates the beauty of everyday things and invites us to see the world anew.
Alex Buchanan
Echoes From Far Away, 2024
Retired nylon and polypropylene ropes, steel, copper
42″ x 40″ x 7″
Artist Bio
Alex Buchanan (Born in Boston, Massachusetts) studied sculpture, printmaking and photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Alex also served four years active duty and began his journeys at sea in the U.S. Coast Guard. He focuses on the cultural relevance in his maritime influences and conveys them intriguingly by layering inclusive translations of coastal humanities in semiotic form, and tackles environmental subjects through humor and poignant metaphors. He exhibits work regularly and was a 2020 SMFA at Tufts Traveling Fellow recipient. Alex lives in New Bedford with his wife and daughter.