Meet Alexis Serio | Painter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alexis Serio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alexis, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I grew up in a small rural and remote town in upstate New York. Much of my childhood was spent outside (playing soccer, skiing, sledding, walking, hiking, swimming) or looking out a car window at the landscape while traveling. My parents are avid travelers and the passion for seeing new places and cultures is something that has also impacted my approach to art making and life today.

I received my MFA in painting from The University of Pennsylvania and my BFA in painting from Syracuse University. Both programs helped to shape the work I make today. As an undergraduate student at Syracuse, I took my first landscape painting course. It was a “plein air” style class where we met at different locations around the area and painted from observation for five hours each week. This is where I fell in love with the subject matter, I rushed to capture the changing light, the movement of water, and the structure of the tree line, and as I worked, the time seemed to disappear. I was hooked.

When I attended The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, it was harder to get away from the city to paint on sight, so I started working from memory. This is when the most prominent elements came to fruition in my work, and I began to abstract. I was less interested in creating a document of a specific location, and more interested in creating a sense of what it was like to experience the space. What did I want the viewer to take away? Was it a brisk day? Did the light glow? I asked myself questions about feelings, rather than pictures.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Today, my work is about the concept of abstract landscape painting as heirloom (memory), folktale (story), and haiku (an image of landscape that contains surprising and profound feeling). Titles such as The Honeysuckle Bloom, The Water Owns Your Heart, Clouds Are Legend, and Ninety-Two Days on the River invite the viewer to remember (or imagine) a time or place that once was—or could be. Deep space and moving light create a sense of longing, a wistfulness experienced through the act of remembrance. I seek to describe the indescribable, to provide expressive form for amorphous feeling, to capture the ephemeral.

My abstract landscapes are metaphors of time, memory, and perception. They are responses to the transience of light, especially as seen most dramatically at sunrise and sunset, in moving water, and in the light cast over grand vistas. My paintings are formal but also theoretical investigations of the visual perception of light and color, the personal experience of remembering and inventing, and the natural illusiveness of time. Although I do not provide a true foothold beyond a horizon line or a suggested landscape palette, the viewer usually recognizes a particular place or moment in time he or she has experienced before. Thus, through the execution of illusion and abstraction, I give shape to the personal experience of remembrance for the viewer.

The main thing that has gotten me where I am today professionally is a continued practice and being connected with the right people at the right time. I have maintained integrity in my professional life by honoring contracts and deadlines, sharing opportunities with other artists, and sharing my best work with the public. It hasn’t been easy, and most artists work round the clock, but if you love the work, it is rewarding. “The days you work are the best days” Georgia O’Keef

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The Dallas Aquarium, Craighead Green Gallery, DMA, Nasher, Deep Ellum, and Dallas Farmer’s Market

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My parents were extremely supportive and encouraging when it came to pursuing a career in the arts. I was taught that if I was interested in something to go for it, and through hard work, I could make it my life. My husband Dewane demonstrated that taking risks and investing in yourself will pay off. My family, my husband and my kids have been my champion along my journey as a professional painter.

As an undergraduate student, my painting mentor was Professor Sara McCoubrey, who first introduced me to the love of landscape. She is a practicing painter in Syracuse, New York.

Website: www.alexisserioart.com

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Facebook: Alexis Serio Art