BIO
Alexander Nixon graduated from Stanford University (BA, 2000), where he received the prestigious Nathan Oliveira Award for painting. In New York City, he filled his sketchbooks with ink drawings of subway riders, while producing monumental scale map mosaics of New York City in his studio. He started making bamboo sculpture when he moved back (2018) to his hometown (Tampa, FL) to teach art history at the University of Tampa (he has a master in Art History from Brooklyn College and from NYU). Teaching art history, especially the Classical World, inspired him to explore sculpture, an artform he had never tackled by hand.
History
In 2018, I moved back home to Tampa from NYC and started experimenting with making sculpture out of organic materials, like branches and palm fronds. Having spent many years in NYC drawing subway riders (one example is included in my portfolio; other examples can be found on my instagram page), then later transforming those drawings into collages made from MTA subway maps, in Tampa, I wanted to focus on 3-dimensional art. I took advantage of all the natural abundance everywhere.
After experimenting with different kinds of wood, I found that bamboo had the most versatility and lasted longer outdoors than all the other options.
Initially, I set out to create huge, outdoor bamboo sculptures that felt like they belonged on, blended with, the landscape. More recently I have shifted to smaller-scale bamboo sculptures that belong indoors.
Process
I collect bamboo from neighbors and locals within a radius of about 5 miles from my sculpture studio. Usually they hear about me through others or see my posts when I post online about needing bamboo; bamboo grows so quickly folks are happy to let me take what I need. Next, I transport the bamboo to my art studio, where I split it into long pieces that I roll into coils. I categorize the bamboo according to size, flexibility, durability, etc. and use each category for a specific purpose.
I start by making the skeleton, made of solid rods of hard bamboo; next, I use thick strips for the muscles and tendons; last, I weave an outer layer of “skin,” and fine tune everything until the proportions and details are to my liking. Everything is 100% bamboo, though I do use some vines as placeholders for the initial part of the process; these vines become unnecessary once the bamboo starts working alone to reinforce the sculpture’s integrity. Through trial and error I have invented a wide range of techniques to allow me to rely exclusively on bamboo as my primary medium.
The sculptures are enormous, but incredibly light-weight; one person can lift Nixon’s giant unicorn. This means they are easy to move and won’t hurt anyone.
Nobody taught Nixon how to do what he does; he learned everything by trial and error, through perseverance on rainy days, bitten by mosquitos, fingers full of splinters and cuts.