Alexander Von Eikh left his native Russia in 1975, attended the Academy of Art and Design in Rome, and moved to New York in 1978 at age 19.  Now a resident of Hurley, he has worked in Madrid, Milan, Los Angeles, North Carolina, and New York designing lighting, furniture, textiles, and interiors.

Von Eikh's Elephant was inspired by a visit to the Butterfield & Butterfield Auction House in Los Angeles, where he found a pair of elephant ears.  Shocked by the "sacrilege of these souvenirs," Von Eikh bought them, and was moved to paint a live elephant dancing.

Elephant is being hung onstage during Cocoon Theatre's production of "The Elephant Child" this month in Rhinebeck.  The painting will be featured, along with other Von Eikh pieces, in New Art International, an annual color catalog of contemporary artists' work to be published by J.S. Kauffmann in Woodstock in October.  Image used courtesy of Book Art Press.