Serving as amplifications of industry heritage and environmental impacts, Alex Buchanan’s main body of work pays ethnographic tribute to past and present cultures by expanding from the industrious nature itself to include impacted societies. Plunging into these environments recognizes that tasks of utilitarian purpose can fail to acknowledge aesthetics and beauty around the radius of their enterprise. Traditionally an ode to conquest and adventure, the visual representations of seagoers can be imbalanced to favor self-touting stories over emotion, heritage, and ethnography. Buchanan’s focus on this particular void in maritime cultural preservation shifts certain viewpoints, highlighting aspects of nautical culture, community and creativity in forms ranging from a single strand of hair, to rusted steel cable and all the imaginable in between. Buchanan achieves this by not only recognizing patterns that really work, but by the way he curates the types of materials that work within those patterns, making sure that material carries on the histories and stories in which it was originally used for, but ending up with a delicate texture that challenges its rugged lifecycle.

Cultural preservation is not the only focus though. The sustainability of Buchanan's material, which is primarily retired ship's rope, highlights an unsustainable practice through the sheer quantity of synthetic materials that becomes fragmented, littering our oceans and marine ecosystems. Orchestrating subtle textures and curvature in sculptural form, Buchanan suspends the materials current state and focuses on the stories held within the fiber patinas to say, “this shall not go to waste.” Every segment is unique and treated as a scarce commodity, like a thumbprint from the sea. Each sculpture carries with it a historical value as well as artistic. Some materials were used in duties such as assisting in the turning of the U.S.S. Constitution in Boston Harbor, and others equivocal in nature gain value as their rarity increases due to the innovation of synthetic industrial textiles.

“While viewing my sculptures, it's sometimes difficult to see that the core material used was considered waste. Retired tugboat towing rope, construction culls, iron rod, and stainless steel shackles all headed for an end of life disposal. By taking these materials in that exact state of dismissal and organizing them into patterns, I ask you to look again and determine whether what we are viewing should have even been considered a discard. Part of our surmounting waste problem stemming from rapid industrialization and overconsumption is because we fail to view beauty and purpose in materials after they have completed the tasks we expected them to do.

I believe the ropes I chose that were replaced by the maritime industry, are being done so at their richest aesthetic stage, and have only just begun their journeys as a peak grade textile. Patinas from stress and wear of the industrious nature act as scribed tales about the material's life and environment. The surfaces soften and become more tactilely pleasing for a gazing touch. This transition ironically pays homage to the industry in which the material originated while suggesting we also consider the supporters of such a conquesting field. The ethnographic qualities of field-related knots amplify forms reminiscent of braided hair, dimity patterns, and stitching found in marine culture on land. This offers additional delicate and refined perspectives and acts as an important alkalizer to the harsh problems we know as piles of plastic.”

Alex Buchanan (Born in Boston, Massachusetts) studied sculpture, printmaking and photography at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. He also served four years active duty and began his journeys at sea in the U.S. Coast Guard. Buchanan focuses on the cultural relevance in his maritime influences and conveys them intriguingly by layering inclusive translations of coastal humanities in semiotic form, and tackles environmental subjects through humor and poignant metaphors. He exhibits work regularly and was a 2020 SMFA at Tufts Traveling Fellow recipient. Buchanan lives in New Bedford, MA.

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