by Bondo Wyszpolski
Is it possible for a talented artist to be too private or withdrawn, and to vanish from public view for years at a time? That might well be the case with Redondo Beach painter Fei Alexander, who went seven years after her solo show at El Camino College before appearing at Ego Fine Art, and then another six years — from early 2015 to late 2022 — without exhibiting her work.
Over the last year, however, Fei has had her paintings included in several group shows at the Gallery of Hermosa, and without exception they have drawn attention and praise. Her picture “Blue Eyes,” recently on view, depicts a fanned-out peacock in vibrant hues with meticulously detailed ocelli or eyespots. It feels vaguely Middle Eastern, as if fresh from the walls of a Persian palace, and is sure to be among the curated works when Fei’s art is exhibited, starting May 3, at the Easy Reader office in Hermosa Beach.
The journey from abroad
Fei was born in China and had her first artistic breakthroughs long before coming to this country.
“Throughout my childhood, Chinese ink was my major focus,” Fei says over tea. Some of her pieces were given awards, and “a few were sent to Japanese elementary schools as part of a cultural exchange.”
From that point on, her love for painting was unconditionally encouraged by her parents. Fei majored in art, and while heading up a graphic design department she furthered her studies at two other colleges. Afterwards, with invitations from many countries — New Zealand, Australia, England, Canada — she chose the United States and arrived here in December, 1998.
Her first year and a half was spent in Pasadena, along the ever-vibrant Colorado Boulevard, and not long after that she met her future husband, a talented musician, now deceased. I encountered Fei in 2000, when I was a young arts writer. “We just walked into the newspaper,” Fei recalls. “I was having a show at Bergamot Station and was trying to spread the word.”
I saw her pictures and wrote about them.
We kept in contact, lost touch for a while, regained it, and then Fei participated in the three variants of “Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking?” which was a group show that traveled from the Palos Verdes Art Center to the Malaga Cove Library Art Gallery and then to the Muckenthaler in Fullerton.
Her pictures tend to be introspective and somber, a blend of the psychological and spiritual. They are never superficially buoyant.
Inwardly focused
Most artists don’t mind sketching in their personal background, but Fei insists on sticking to her art. At one point in her life she would have cared what others thought of her work, but these days, she says, “it no longer affects me.” If there’s one question that she might appreciate more than any other, it’s simply: “What was on your mind when you painted this?”
It’s a good question, and don’t be afraid to ask it. Fei doesn’t just pick up a brush and start painting. You won’t find her standing on a bluff and sketching in a sunset or a field of yellow flowers. That’s not her thing. She’ll have an idea, of course, but after that she sits in front of her blank canvas until she can visualize her subject, “until it appears in front of me.” In some ways it’s like a cat in front of a mousehole, patiently waiting for the mouse to emerge.
“The vitality,” as she puts it, “is to seize the moment between the imagination and the subconscious that echoes [within] you the most,” the moment when the image appears in its clarity. “To me,” she adds, “art is about perceiving, meditating, reflecting, interacting, absorbing, sharing, and valuing the essence of all beings with sensitivity and freedom.”
One of her goals at the end of this process may seem quite modest: “I’m just trying to surprise myself.”
Working fulltime as a graphic arts designer while also raising her son, Fei often begins painting at night. Because it’s quieter and there’s less interruption, that’s her favorite time. She might, for example, begin at 6:30 p.m. and, if she didn’t have to wake up and go to work, she’d keep going until 3 a.m. A single picture may take a month or longer, especially if there’s a surfeit of ornamentation or detail involved.
While some artists will jump from subject to subject and style to style, Fei prefers to stay in her lane because, “sometimes, limitation breeds creativity since it forces you to think more critically and inventively.” This inward concentration allows her to “maintain clarity and avoid distractions from outside influences. It allows me to build a stronger foundation and stay true to my vision rather than be swayed by trends or the work of others — which can blur my sense of self and creativity.”
That intensity needs discipline in a world of constant intrusion. However, like many fastidious artists, Fei admits “the crucial and challenging aspect of the painting process is knowing when to stop.” Some artists, and I can think of George Inness and Edgar Degas, reportedly borrowed back pictures and then completely reworked them. By no means is Fei like that, but putting a final “stop” on an artwork can be hard. For some, a finishing touch is open-minded.
Her favorite artists tend to be Surrealists, those with a capital ‘S’ and those with a lowercase ‘s’ with Hieronymus Bosch heading the list. After that it’s René Magritte, Francis Bacon, Remedios Varo, and Egon Schiele. That’s quite a disparate lineup, in my opinion, and maybe, just maybe, Fei’s work draws a little bit from all of them while remaining in her own style. And with so much carefully composed design and detail in her pictures one might think that Fei’s preference is for smaller canvases, but that isn’t really true. “I would love to do big pieces,” she says; and so why doesn’t she? Because anything over 48 inches won’t fit into her car.
That makes me smile, because when it comes to their visual impact these paintings are large enough. What’s more important right now is that we see more of them in galleries and art shows and not just in the pages of a magazine or newspaper.
Soon. Fei Alexander’s work will be on view from May 3 through July 13 at the Easy Reader office, 67 Fourteenth St., Hermosa Beach, with an opening reception on Saturday, May 3, from 5 to 8 p.m. In the meantime, they can be viewed on her website, dejavuartdesigns.com. She can be contacted by phone, (310) 906-5855 or via email, dejavuartdesigns@gmail.com. PEN
