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Charles Alexander is a team player in his support of the conservation cause. Illustrating this was his volunteering to help the Artists for Conservation Foundation at its inaugural show by spending the entire three day weekend taking still photographs of the entire proceedings. This was done in spite of the fact that Charles had two wonderful artworks selected for inclusion in the exhibition. The two Lola ya Bonobo young ape portraits (Lomami and Mabali) were juried into the show and a percentage of the sales price will go to the Wildlife Conservation Society. Charles description of the background to these two paintings is illuminating:
"What can the small faces of a few orphaned apes tell us about the fate of a species? How can art shed light on the possible destruction of one of the earth's most biologically rich tropical forests? Since early 2005, I have been facilitating a dialogue to both ask and answer these and many more questions via my paintings of the bonobo orphans of Lola ya Bonobo, a 70 acre oasis of lush jungle located on the outskirts of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Founded in 1994 by Mme. Claudine André, the Lola sanctuary is now home to over 50 bonobos, each with a harrowing story of survival to tell.
My paintings of the Lola bonobos are small, no larger than 8 x 10 inches. Each depicts the expressive countenance of an individual ape superficially resembling a young chimpanzee. Among the first questions that the portraits often serve to answer is ' what is a bonobo?' Rarest of the great apes, the bonobo (Pan paniscus) is found only within three provinces of a single nation: the DRC. Isolated from other ape populations by the horseshoe-shaped bend of the mighty Congo River, the bonobo has evolved into a species distinct from the chimpanzee, the only other member of the genus Pan. The bonobo is slim, black-faced, and gracefully proportioned, with long legs that give the species a lower center of gravity, allowing it to walk upright with ease. Living in groups of 50-100 individuals, bonobos do not practice infanticide or warfare—as do chimps and humans—but instead prefer to ' make love, not war' by diffusing social tensions and potential conflict through the creative use of sex.
Ironically, this peacemaker among apes is in the process of meeting a rapid and violent end in its war-torn and poverty-stricken home nation. Bushmeat hunting with snares and guns has decimated the bonobo population, which has plunged from an estimated 100,000 in 1980 to less than 10,000 today. Tragically, each Lola portrait represents a bonobo that has witnessed the violent death of his or her family to bushmeat hunters. Like all bonobo orphans that end up in the pet trade, each was ripped from the security of his dead mother's arms, ill fed, and unloved for days and even weeks until rescued. Bonobo infants are fragile creatures and few survive the trauma of this first, brutal contact with humans. Each Lola portrait offers clues to the long journey that each orphan has made: the haunted gaze of Maniema; Kindu's malnutrition-induced baldness; the bright, resolute eyes of Mabali, determined to survive the odds. Some of the orphans like Lomami arrive at Lola with missing fingers—sorcerers cut them off for use in black magic potions. Maniema was brought to the sanctuary in the trunk of his owner's car, in spite of the equatorial heat. Another had a deep wound at the waist, thanks to a tether never loosened. All had to first find the will to live and then to trust the human foster mothers who work around the clock at Lola to give the bonobos there the best possible care.
Ultimately, each Lola portrait that I paint also tells the story, not only of an individual ape surviving the odds, but also of a whole African rainforest world at risk. Bushmeat hunting, facilitated by the construction of logging roads, is systematically eliminating wildlife populations in the Congo Basin, leaving in its wake empty forests where fruit falls into piles at the base of forest trees, uneaten. Without wildlife to disperse the seeds, the forest cannot renew itself, setting into motion an Empty Forest Syndrome that could spell an end to the forest's very existence. The expansion of agriculture, mining, and uncontrolled logging also threaten to fragment and destroy this fragile and beautiful hotbed of biological diversity—a catastrophe with global implications. In recent years, 50 percent of the Congo Basin forests have been allocated for logging.
My plan is to paint every orphan in Lola's care on an ongoing basis, with art sales helping to fund the sanctuary. Via venues like the AFC website, the portraits will also serve as a starting point for further dialogue, opening the door for heightened awareness and understanding about bonobos and their specific conservation needs. People everywhere respond to the bright-eyed gaze of a youngster, be it human or bonobo. Hopefully my art will help to narrow the gap between the delicately balanced human and natural worlds."
Charles also participated in "Art Into Action: Urban Jungle Exhibition", of the Natural World Museum, in San Francisco, CA. Bonobo paintings were exhibited and sold, with all proceeds benefitting the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary.
In 2008 and 2007 prints of his " Face of the Forest: Sumatran Orangutan" painting were successfully auctioned at the St. Louis Zoo's Orangutan SSP Husbandry Workshop to help fund studies of habituated orangutans in Sabah and support the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Project (KOCP).In late 2004, at the "Great Apes In Crisis" Symposium and Fundraiser, of the Great Ape Trust, in Des Moines, Iowa, his prints were successfully auctioned to support Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation
Charles is a wildlife artist and writer interested in exploring the natural world in order to gain a better understanding of the Earth's immense biological diversity and complexity. He is equally fascinated by the story of man's relationship with nature throughout history.
For the past three years, he has focused exclusively on field work in East Africa. "This is the landscape of my childhood dreams come to life-- and a place where the sheer variety and abundance of wildlife is beyond even a child's imagination. Experiencing this place first hand has brought my life full circle".
Charles is currently in the process of creating an entirely new body of work based upon his field work in Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya. Subjects of these new paintings include the region's profound landscapes and amazing wildlife dramas--hyenas hunting flamingos, jackals fighting vultures, a mother cheetah teaching her young ones to kill, mountain gorilla families, the chaos of the migration river crossings-- to name just a few.
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