Peter Alexander (b. 1939, Los Angeles, CA; d. 2020, Santa Monica, CA) is among the pioneers of the southern California-based “Light and Space” movement. Central to Alexander’s lifelong explorations is an intense focus on light and its manifold effects and qualities, as expressed in genre-defining sculptures, paintings, drawings, and prints. From 1965-1972, Alexander worked with polyester resin, producing subtle, luminous, gently-hued sculptures that appeared crafted from light itself. In 1972, he turned to painting, drawing, and printmaking, developing an almost Impressionistic handling of media as he continued to describe light, suffusing his works with color and a palpable sense of atmosphere. Alexander’s two-dimensional works display a masterful description of sun- and moonlight, city lights, illuminated water, and, in a charming series of drawings of midnight-black cats, the total absorption of light into velvety darkness. Alexander’s vision is one of creating a generative object – an entity that appears to emit its own light and energy.

Peter Alexander earned a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1965, and an M.F.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1966; prior to completing these degrees, he studied with Louis Kahn in the University of Pennsylvania’s Architecture program. Alexander’s work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide since the mid-1960s. Alexander is the recipient of many honors and awards including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1980) and the California Art Award (2014). He has held numerous artist-in-residence positions, including at California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA - 1970-71), University of Colorado (Boulder, CO - 1981), and Sarabhai Foundation (Ahmedabad, India - 1983), amongst others. In 1999, the Orange County Museum of Art (Newport Beach, CA) mounted a retrospective exhibition titled In this Light, inclusive of painting and sculpture. Recently, Alexander’s work was featured in “Echoes of Perception: Peter Alexander and California Impressionism” at the University of California Irvine’s Jack and Shanaz Langson Institute and Museum of California Art (2022-2023). Alexander’s works reside in the permanent collections of numerous institutions including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, NY), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA), Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN), and Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY).

The Estate of Peter Alexander is co-represented by Franklin Parrasch Gallery, parrasch heijnen, Los Angeles, and Pace Gallery.