Alexander Nepote 1913 - 1986	Produce Stand
"Green Pool Grotto"	"Artist's Palette Canyon Rock Death Valley" SOLD	"Colorful Cliff Grotto"
"Road to the Coast" 1957	Hilltop farm buildings (verso "Road to the Coast")	(Manner of Nepote) Barn and Stormy Skies

Alexander Nepote was a native Californian, born and raised in the Central Valley. In the 1930's, he studied art at the California College of Arts and Crafts and then went on to receive his master's degree in fine arts from Mills College. When World War II broke out, Alexander was thirty-nine. He worked in the Kaiser Shipyards in Richmond. After the war, he became a professor and Dean of the Faculty at the California College of Arts and Crafts, and then served as Art Professor at California State University, San Francisco.

Nepote's artistic career went through several phases. Early on in his creative life, he was creating wet-into-wet landscapes of farms and city scenes. In the 40's, he became more abstract, with floating shapes and complex geometric compositions. In the 50's, he created more abstract landscapes, and in the 60's, he exhibited a fascination with rock shapes and textures, combining watercolors and experimental collage techniques.

For twenty-five years, he participated in most watercolor exhibitions in the Bay Area between 1935 and 1960. He was a founding member of a group known as "The Layerists," and placed his multi media works in their shows.

Collage Process Painting -- from the artist's brochure, The Art Wagon Gallery, 7156 Main St., Scottsdale, AZ

Alexander Nepote recently expressed these thoughts regarding his work: "My reactions, which are embodied in my paintings, are the result of an intensive search: to see, as best I can, beyond the obvious to the hidden deeper realities. It is not my intention to describe a parcel of landscape which may interest me but to suggest the inner spirit which is felt and experienced at a particular place. the aesthetic fabric of my works unites the seen and felt, fact and mystery and the specific within the universal. The fascinating patterns of cliffs, rocks, vegetation -- from mere crevices to extended open vistas -- convey the contrasting elements of intimacy, massiveness or vastness which reveal a range of moods from ambiguous aloneness to awe and grandeur.

My works are based on nature which I sketch and study at frequent intervals. All paintings, however, are imaginatively created. From the field sketches I make as many as a dozen small preliminary drawings to discover the structural form the images might take. To attain the conception I desire it is often necessary to subject the material I use to continuous modification -- the surface is scrubbed, parts cut out, sanded, additional paper glued on, etc. etc. (See description of technique). There is a constant steady battle with the materials until the work comes to life."

Technique

Although Mr. Nepote's works are called collages, they are not collages as the word is traditionally used. They are a process type painting where layers of paper are applied and painted. Starting by gluing Strathmore paper on Dulux Masonite more thin rag watercolor papers, etching or ledger papers are added. Nearly all the papers are white. Occasionally Stratmore black rag charcoal paper is applied to establish a dark recessed area to build on. Color is applied almost from the beginning -- watercolors or transparent acrylics. As the painting progresses some areas receive many successive layers of colors building up deep vibrating colors.

Paper is utilized in every conceivable manner: it is torn, cut, peeled off, scratched, gouged, etc. Textures are formed by gluing hard and soft papers together and separating them before the glue has a chance to thoroughly dry or built up with scraps of paper. Changes are made by soaking the surface with hot water and then peeling off.

Manipulating paper in this manner is an art in itself -- one has to develop a "sixth sense" because timing is all important. Since it is vital that the painting built up by stages with the appropriate intervals for complete drying, Mr. Nepote works on several paintings at once. When the painting is finished it is given three coats of Hyplar Acrylic Matte Varnish. The surface is extremely durable and can be cleaned with a soft brush or dust cloth. In special cases they can be cleaned and revarnished so they regain the original fresh appearance.

Exhibitions

Alexander Nepote was Professor of aRt at San Francisco State University until the end of 1976. He has bee invited to many national and international exhibitions. Some are the Third International at Sao Palo, Brazil; Expo 70, Osaka Japan; Art of the Pacific Basin, Auckland, New Zealand; Americans 1962, Richmond, Virginia Museum of ARt; American Art of Our Time and many other national exhibitions. Recently he exhibited in London in a joint exhibition of West Coast Watercolorists and the Royal Society of Watercolorists. His work resides in the collections of many museums and private collections.

Source: Gordon T. McClelland and Jay T. Last, California Watercolors 1850 - 1970, 2002 and the artist's brochure from The Art Wagon Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.