“AN AFGHAN LIFE’; ‘THE CASTLE’; AND OTHER PAINTINGS”

During 50 years of architectural practice since qualifying as an architect at the Oxford School in the late 60’s Robert [Alex] Alexander has produced paintings. These have not related directly to his profession, though the Afghan series responds to the two years he spent working in Kabul as Architect Advisor to the education ministries [CUME] in the late seventies.

Some of the Castle paintings predate Alex’s reading of Kafka’s book which recounts surveyor K’s problems, but both they and the book can be seen as contemplations on one’s relationships to power and bureaucracy.

People are important in these paintings, in portrait, in relationship with others, or with the natural world.

As will be seen, people and portraits feature strongly in all the paintings.