Living Your Life in a Goldfish Bowl

John Alexander, Living Your Life in a Goldfish Bowl, 1985, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of United Stationers, Inc., 1995.70.1
John Alexander, Living Your Life in a Goldfish Bowl, 1985, oil on canvas, 90 1⁄8 x 120 in. (228.9 x 304.8 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of United Stationers, Inc., 1995.70.1

Artwork Details

Title
Living Your Life in a Goldfish Bowl
Artist
Date
1985
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
90 1⁄8 x 120 in. (228.9 x 304.8 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of United Stationers, Inc.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Animal — fish
Object Number
1995.70.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1995.70.1

Artwork Description

The tangle of brushstrokes in Living Your Life in a Goldfish Bowl brings to mind the clotted, suffocating density of swamps in John Alexander's native Texas. The goldfish bowl represents life's generalized paranoia and viciousness, as well as the specific pressures of his career. This painting captures the dark humor of a man who says that artists, like "thieves and hoodlums," earn their living after midnight. Alexander admits that the scale of his paintings contributes to the anxiety he experiences in the studio, where he veers between pride and doubt. When he isn't painting, he watches the great blue herons waiting to snap up the koi from his pond, and thinks of his critics' judgments: "Try opening up on the canvas, pour yourself into it, and then let 300 to 400 people come in and reject you or praise you."

Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006

Works by this artist (16 items)

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Charles Seliger, Awakening, 1988, etching on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. George M. Jaffin, 1994.50, © 1988, Charles Seliger
Awakening
Artist
Date1988
etching on paper
Not on view
Charles Seliger, Til I am nothing but a Spirit, and lose this form of clay, from Illustrations to the songs from William Blake's "Island in the Moon", 1945, white ink on black ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Michael Rosenfeld, 1992.53.10
Til I am nothing but a Spirit, and lose this form of clay,…
Artist
Date1945
white ink on black ink on paper
Not on view
Charles Seliger, Title page, Illustrations to the songs from William Blake's "Island in the Moon", 1945, white ink on black ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Michael Rosenfeld, 1992.53.1
Title page, Illustrations to the songs from William Blake’s…
Artist
Date1945
white ink on black ink on paper
Not on view
Charles Seliger, Sip Sop, the Pythagorean, from Illustrations to the songs from William Blake's "Island in the Moon", 1945, white ink on black ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Michael Rosenfeld, 1992.53.12
Sip Sop, the Pythagorean, from Illustrations to the songs…
Artist
Date1945
white ink on black ink on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

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Welmon Sharlhorne, Untitled (Building with Recessed Entrance and Black Foreground), ca. 1992, ink on manila envelope, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.135
Untitled (Building with Recessed Entrance and Black…
Artist
Dateca. 1992
ink on manila envelope
Not on view
Andrea Way, Bones, 1987, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Tom and Judy Brody, 2009.38.3, © 1987, Andrea Way
Bones
Artist
Date1987
ink on paper
Not on view
Carl Piwinski, Martian Worlds, ca. 1992, ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.125
Martian Worlds
Artist
Dateca. 1992
ink on paper
Not on view
William H. Johnson, David and Goliath, ca. 1944, pen and ink on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.432
David and Goliath
Artist
Dateca. 1944
pen and ink on paper
Not on view