San Jose artist Chris Alexander's immaculately crafted, mixed-media constructions were on view in the San Jose Museum of Art's Focus Gallery from July 11th through November 11th, 2001. In his work, Alexander considers the paradoxical relationship between man and the natural world. Man professes a love of nature, yet consistently manipulates the natural environment to fulfill his desires. His attempts to unlock the secrets of nature - to control his world - often meet with disastrous results and long-term negative effects on the environment.

Alexander's work in Unnatural Disasters was based on three subjects - the redwood forest, bonsai gardening, and cloud formations. In his redwood forest diptychs, vintage postcards of logging industry achievements and national forest tourist attractions are juxtaposed with his own ironic responses in charcoal, demonstrating the imprudence of clear-cutting and the inanity of tourism. The bonsai works focus on manipulative Japanese gardening techniques, through which the natural plant growth is altered with instruments resembling medieval torture devices. Absurdly, the ultimate goal is the creation of a natural-looking shrub. In his cloud series, Alexander looks at imagery contemplated by artists for centuries for its emotional connotations. Additionally, Alexander examines the scientific side of clouds - the futile human drive to dissect and control the elements.

Chris Alexander was born in Mountain View, CA and currently lives and works in San Jose, CA. He earned a BA in Painting and Drawing (1991) and an MFA in Pictorial Arts (1994) from San Jose State University.