Lemur Conservation Foundation hosted Alexis Rockman and his partner Dorothy Spears on a trip to Madagascar in December 2009. Accompanied by Penelope Bodry-Sanders (LCF Founder), they met field biologists and conservationists and witnessed first hand the astonishing biota of the island, particularly its charming and charismatic primates. The hope was that Rockman, an artist noted for his beautiful, provocative, and often disturbing images, would create a painting depicting the plight of lemurs facing unprecedented threats in Madagascar to help LCF in its mission to help lemurs survive into the future.

Alexis Rockman created “Fragments,” a beautiful and disquieting image about the loss of biodiversity in general and of lemurs specifically. In the painting, a rare red ruffed lemur is “out on a limb” of the degraded central tree that offers little to eat for the creatures that inhabit it. Pan down the tree and you see earth moving equipment and trucks exiting with the plunder of Madagascar’s biodiversity. Further, the topography below hints at Africa, India and Southeast Asia, areas also at risk. The runny, washed-out paint speaks to one of Earth’s most valuable but disappearing “hot spots.”

Alexis Rockman’s work is currently the subject of a major exhibition, A Fable for Tomorrow, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C. through May 8, 2011. www.alexisrockman.net