The daughter of two professors, Grant
was born in Ohio and as a child shuttled
around: Mexico City, Paris, Washington.
At 11, she told her parents that she
wanted to go to boarding school in St
Louis. “I was very fearless – I was a child
who knew her mind.” Becoming an
artist seemed inevitable, although
she has never been interested in staying
in just one lane. “I think ‘artist’ best
describes what I do, but really it’s a
name for a kind of curiosity.”
At Marfa, Grant will show three large
works – a mix of flamboyant, colourful
gestures with well-chosen words –
inspired by the myth of Antigone.
She’s particularly drawn to the Greek
heroine’s famous sentiment: “I was bornto love, not hate.” Grant first conceived
the pictures in 2014, but admits they’ve
gained extra weight as the world has
got weirder. Greta Thunberg could be
a modern-day Antigone, she suggests.
“It’s been an absolute trip for me, seeing
the paintings take on a new life as the
political climate changes.”
The attention since November has
been a different kind of trip. In 2011,
she and Reeves published their first
book, Ode to Happiness, a playful guide
to climbing out of depression that
juxtaposes his poetic text with her
drawings. It was an indication that, even
then, the two shared a bond. “The book
was made as a surprise, by me, for Keanu,
as a private gift,” confirms Grant. “Allour friends sitting in the room got the
giggles when I gave it to him – they
said, ‘Please publish it!’ So that’s how
we got into publishing.”
Grant has a tight social circle in LA- she’s been a bridesmaid seven times
and even officiated at one friend’s
wedding. Does marriage interest her?
“Over a glass of wine... I would love
to tell you,” she laughs. “Love at every
level is deeply important to my identity.
How’s that for dodging the question?
I do not believe that isolation is the
way. There is a period of isolation that
I do as a painter, but I deeply value the
experience of being in relationships.”
There is something thoroughly
winning about Grant. She started going
grey in her mid-twenties and was
completely so by her mid-thirties.
Keeping it grey is somewhat political,
but not stridently so, she says. “I am a
huge believer in choice – whatever
anyone wants to do to feel confident.
We should all have more options as to
what beauty is. There are billions of us.”
Grant considers herself an LA native
now, and is happily signed up to the
local traditions: she meditates every day
and thoroughly recommends it, albeit
with a knowing laugh. She’s also taught
at a succession of eminent Californian
colleges. The main thing she seeks to
do, she says, is to instil confidence in her
students. “If there’s one thing I would
hope, for anybody who comes into
contact with me, it’s that I have agency,”
she explains. “I can only say: ‘I’ve given
myself permission – have you thought
about giving yourself permission?’” n
“There is
a period of
isolation
that I do as
a painter,
but I deeply
value the
experience
of being in
relationships”Left: silk blouse, £1,222, ChloŽ.
Jewellery, Alexandra’s own. Below:
last year’s “I Was Born to Love (1)”
was inspired by Greek mythology96A R TS & C U LT U R E04-20-FOB-Alexandra-Grant_2020457.indd 96 11/02/2020 08:32