Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Alpert
Hi Steve , so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I worked alone in a studio for 15 years. That was my only option at the time. It was isolating and I felt I was always looking up a sheer granite wall with no hand hold in terms of feeling there was no community to even be a part. But, I never stopped, just kept going. And along the way found that I have a serious connection with men and women who serve on the US Armed Forces. So, I began making paintings that told their story. And then I found these paintings could raise funds for veterans organizations and their families. That changed my life. I became a part of a compelling community, Fellow Traveler if you will which gives me great purpose and a sense of belonging. My paintings have raised more than half a million dollars to various veteran oriented non-profits, most notably, Children of Fallen Patriots. Would I say all this has been easy? No. Smooth, definitely not. Which makes any successes along the way that more satisfying. he icing on the cake is that for the past eight years leading a painting workshop at Fordham University for veterans who are painters.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Challenges and Lessons
So many. The biggest lesson is about not giving up when things don’t go the way you hoped. In terms of making my paintings, I have experienced difficulties of sure. But I have always worked my way through paintings that presented obstacles. Yes, I have lost sleep, experienced frustration. You do have to suffer for your art in many ways. But, the you are doing something you love, that is all part of it. My desire to masker paintings is inexhaustible. That is the easiest and most joyous part of the enterprise.
The most difficult aspect is working to get the work out into the world. Galleries were once the only way. I began when the internet was just finding its way into the art world. Gallery owners kept collectors away form the artists. But the internet ended all that. The internet, websites, social media puts the artist in direct contact with artists. Initially, people said well no one wants to buy a painting from seeing it on a computer screen. Wrong again. Now the field is wide open. I now have a very robust social media presence and a wonderful social media team that has taken my work and writings and continues to push posts out there. I do a lot of writing to accompany the images, telling my story in various aspects over and over and over again.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been through many phases of subject matter. I began with landscapes. I have traveled extensively in the US, having been to every state in the union at least twice except only once to Alaska. I have a rich library of images in my head. At some point I was lead into portraits. Portrait painting is very exacting and there is enormous responsibility to tell a person’s life story in one image. The eyes tell the story, the window into the soul. Have to get that right. Exactly right. Portraits are very demanding and call the artist to really think. At the same time, you need to allow for a certain spontaneity, give yourself the permission to take certain liberties where possible, so that you maintain a sense of freedom in your choices. After a series of paintings (12) portraits of women veterans for the book, Proudly She Served; Celebrating Women in Uniform, that took three years to complete painting one after the other, I moved into abstract. The ultimate freedom! When I first began painting fifty plus years ago, I would start with a wash, a mark or a line and then kept working until an image would emerge. I had a brilliant teacher, Professor Alan Atwell who was a strong advocate for this kind of painting. This freewheeling pursuit is the most fun of all for me, and it allow the artist to make completely unique paintings, original images that come from deep in the unconscious. I have rediscovered my love for this kind of painting and I am quite pleased with the abstracts that I have been creating for the last two years.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Happiness
My greatest happiness outside of the joys of my family is the fact that I am able to make paintings that will help improve the lives of veterans and their families. The work I have made with my hands has put many kids through college. What a miracle! And for the last eight years I have been leading a painting workshop for veterans under the aegis of Fordham University in New York City. Our merry band of veterans, all excellent artists in their own right have created a excellent community between us. I am so proud of them and I have learned for much from them. We continue to learn from each other. This Spring ’25 we will have an exhibition which we all are so much looking forward to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stevealpertart.com
Image Credits
Photo by Maria Reeves Hayes