Evolution
Somewhere along the way I decided I wanted to paint like the mannerists and baroque painters (such as Caravaggio) of centuries earlier. This did not bode well at a school that had a party line of Bay Area expressionism, preferably abstract. We had models, but no instruction – no anatomy, no nothing. Just go ahead and paint, but please, not about anything. However, I had stories to tell, and I wanted to paint like the old masters. The really really old unquestionably dead masters. Another student referred to me as a misfit among the misfits.
Critiques were entertaining. They were like bad group therapy, and were often not about painting at all. You learned to fake your way talking about theory and psychology and whatever else was trending at the time. I thought they were pure nonsense. All this being said, I think the faculty did their best with what they had, from where they were coming from. Many of them I liked as people. But I had no mentors.
The extraordinarily wonderful thing about SFAI at that time was the community of students. We were a spectacular few years. I wouldn’t trade that for anything, and consider myself truly fortunate to have been an active part of it. We learned from each other; ideas flowed freely through conversation and osmosis. We had fun.
Above Left: One Hundred Years, © Alexandria Levin, 1987 – oil on canvas, 38x45"
Above Center: An Angel in Passing, © Alexandria Levin, 1988 – oil on canvas, 36x38" (private collection)
Above Right: Heredity, © Alexandria Levin, 1988 – oil on canvas, 36x30" (collection of artist)
