Alexis Tucker is a freshman at Princeton University (Yeah ’08!). As she currently resides in the best residential college ever— Wilson College, it is no surprise that she also comes from the sweetest state on Earth (that’s right… New Jersey). She lovingly blames her parents for getting her and her older sister interested in art at an early age, particularly her artist father who drew pictures on their lunch bags in elementary school and reinvented the meaning of a ‘Blockbuster Night” by holding family viewings of art documentaries such as Isamu Noguchi: Stones and Paper. As this is a collection of websites devoted to the appreciation of art, Alexis also felt that this was an appropriate time to publicly apologize to her father and sister for incessantly throwing food and causing a scene on the Café level of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1988. She was two.
Prior to matriculating at Princeton, Alexis spent 13 of the most important years of her life at The Montclair Kimberley Academy where she was a fencer, a cheerleader, and student body president. At college, however, she has taken a different route. Her two most important activities (besides quasi-professionally analyzing art, of course) are being a part of the hottest dance group on campus, diSiac dance company, and being a tutor and mentor for Princeton High School students at the Community House. Her other loves include: listening to music, watching and rewatching John Hughes’ Films, taking exotic vacations, dancing with her sister, pretending her life is a music video, and laughing with her friends until her stomach hurts.
Finally, why Gauguin? Although he had his flaws, it is incredible to see such a deep appreciation of other cultures from a French Post-Impressionist artist. At a time when the art world was so incredibly Euro-centric, I definitely appreciate the fact that he stepped out and gave representation to strong, gorgeous women of color.
(The picture above is my sad attempt at creating a Gauguin-like digital woodcut)
Enjoy :)