Love My Neighbor®: July 2017

Friday, July 7, 2017

Celebrating Community and Dignity in "Scottsdale" Carson - Unveiling of "El Rey Trabajador" and Opening of Artward! Gallery

The opening of our new and beautiful Artward! Gallery in no other place than notorious "Scottsdale" neighborhood of Carson and unveiling of my "El Rey Trabajador" there was nothing short of incredible.

It was not your usual "art crowd". They were neighbors, civic leaders of different communities, gang prevention activists, local government, sherifs, my awesome collaborators and supporters.

In the place as tough with the people as weary, if we had five people show up, we'd say "its worth it." We had more, much more.

Yet what was more important than numbers was the spirit different than anything I ever felt in thousands of openings I've been at or was part of in my long professional life. It was the feeling of ART doing its work.

Incredible Deputy Noya of Carson Sheriff's station, who runs one of the most successful gang prevention program anywhere showed up next morning with his entire staff and told me: "Last night alone I already saw the difference. People behaved and reacted differently than what I would expect in this place and I know this place for 30 years". You can fake many things, but not that. That’s an ultimate test. How many "art critic reviews" does THAT worth? If I had any energy left I'd cried.

"MY NEIGHBORS: Capturing the Soul of America's Diverse City" a series by Alexey Steele

There is a lot of adversity to overcome in today’s world. For me the answer to many difficult questions that we presented with daily is in the simple principle "Love My Neighbor".

Loving one’s neighbor is the foundational building block in the moral fiber of our society. I make my case with ongoing "My Neighbors Series" a collection of portrayals of the people around me in our City of Carson.

Carson is a great city, statistically one of the most diverse in the nation, a community most closely reflecting our World. Carson is great because of its people and the diversity is its most important asset.

I was honored to be awarded The City of Carson Cultural Arts Commission grant for 2015/16 and then again for 2016/17 to continue working on "My Neighbors Series" in collaboration with the City of Carson.

I was also honored to be awarded 2016 and, recently, 2017 additional grants by Wells Fargo Bank.

I am grateful for a long-term support and sponsorship for my cultural outreach programs by Rand Resources, LLC

It is a great privilege to collaborate and coordinate my Carson projects with 501c3 non-profit Artward Initiative.

Art can lift aspirations and give us all an important common ground in today’s divisive times. I believe that as we are continuously exposed to the stream of escalating negative news we need to focus on people in communities that inspire us in positive ways. I take inspiration for this series from my community that overcomes adversity.

Every street and every neighborhood has its own widely loved neighbors. What I want to capture through My Neighbors is the unique, iconic and deeply human qualities that make ordinary people the true bedrock of our communities and who give us something meaningful, true and solid to hold onto in times of trouble, which is especially important in neighborhoods like Scottsdale.

At the kind of times that we live in I want ART to help people fill what I call The Dignity Gap.

I believe that strengthening community bonds by getting to know and love one’s neighbors is an answer to many of the difficult issues facing society today. I hope that My Neighbors will encourage visitors to see their own neighbors from a new perspective and take the message of love for one’s neighbor back to their own streets.

I want to capture people in these painting who you cannot help but love. Through the Love My Neighbor public art project, I want to encourage other people to notice and embrace human beacons in their own neighborhoods.

These are the overlooked heroes of our society.

I also believe in the public nature of ART. In this I am following in the footsteps of my late father, an important Ukrainian artist Leonid Steele and this project is my homage to him.

Just as my father went into remote villages of Ukraine to capture the expression of real people and share it with them, I am following this family tradition to capture in paint the strength, the dignity and the grace at the rock bottom of our society, which is so often the bedrock of our community.

Alexey