A keen autodidact, Alexander pulls from the vulnerability, fear, and underlying strength of his rural upbringing, just outside of the haunting home of the Delta Blues. Encouraged by his factory-employed father to pursue a career as an artist, Alexander accrued through staunch pragmatism and southern tenacity an extensive knowledge of fine art. Citing major influences in Francis Bacon, Anselm Kiefer, Kathe Kollwitz, Cy Twombly, and Patrick Graham; his earliest and enduring inspirations came from the art books kept by his father of
Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Goya, and Degas.