Alexandra Nechita

( August 27, 1985 - )

Alexandra Nechita was born in Romania on August 27, 1985. Her father, Nicki Nechita, fled their Communist homeland in 1985. Facing tremendous political pressure, as Nicki like all escapees, was considered a traitor to Romania, the young mother and child followed him to Los Angeles, California, in 1987.

Even at age two, Alexandra was absorbed with her coloring books. Her mother, Viorica, grew worried and actually stopped buying her coloring books, hoping she'd jump rope and play with her dolls and friends more. Her parents say taking away those coloring books was like taking the oxygen out of Alexandra. That's when Alexandra began to draw and color her own figures on scrap computer paper her mother would bring home from work. Her parents noticed then Alexandra's leaning toward Cubism with the Picasso-ish four eyes and two faces.

Alexandra had her first art exhibit on April 1, 1994 in a community library. During the fourth grade, at age nine, Alexandra had several more exhibitions in the Los Angeles area. A CBS producer noticed her work at the Mary Paxon Gallery in the spring of 1995, and an artist's representative spotted the paintings in a local bookstore in July. By late summer, Alexandra was awaiting her appearance on "CBS Sunday Morning."

Alexandra is very casual about her extraordinary gift for painting. "I'm just a normal child. I go to school, I come back, I start painting. Some just go outside, some skateboard, go play tennis, play ping pong, or whatever they want to do. But this is what I choose to do." Every afternoon, she does her homework and chores, eats a late-afternoon meal, and plays with baby brother Maximillion. Then she retreats to her studio and paints for several hours in the evening.

To date, Alexandra has had numerous exhibits in the United States and several during her European tour. She also is very interested in charities and has given generously to several including "Special Olympics." Alexandra is currently working on a project called "Winning Together." The project is a series of six lithographs created at the world famous Mourlot Press in Paris, France. They will retire the famous Mourlot Press after Alexandra Nechita. Only the great artists were ever invited to work at the Mourlot Press, among them: Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Miro, and now Alexandra. This special edition will raise $1.6 million dollars for the "Athletes of the Special Olympics". Alexandra is also thrilled to be chosen by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, as the Official Artist for the 39th Annual Grammy Awards.

Her debt to Picasso is evident, but a more careful analysis of her works reveal an alliance with the major artists of the Twentieth Century to include Chagall, Miro, Matisse and many others, yet she is never a Copyist. Cubism, Futurism, Dadism, Surrealism and other "isms" condition her canvases, but never dominate them. Hers is a unique synthesis and an inexplicable identity that is owing to no other artist or movement.

An original artist, Alexandra Nechita has taken us beyond our mundane perceptions and has opened a world so new to us that we are hardly prepared for it. Alexandra is a child painter the way little Wolfie Mozart was a child composer -- stunning because congenitally she possesses skills and depths that a long lifetime could only hope to develop. Imagine a newborn speaking the equivalent to Shakespearean blank verse. Imagine a toddler building the Parthenon with Lego blocks, or a kid too young to cross the street by herself appearing from her basement workshop with a gizmo that turns water into electricity. We must dismiss her age and regard the works for what they are -- revelations. The criteria of wonder, awe and the richness that derives from revelations are all met in her wonderful paintings. Humor and intellect abound in all of them.