One Man's 'Trash' at Bonbright Gallery

Call artist Alexander Kaletski the ultimate hyphenate. He was an actor in his native Russia, trained at one of the top schools in Moscow. He's a musician, who made his living when he first emigrated to the United States, singing songs even on the Merv Griffin Show. He's an author, whose semi-autobiographical novel Metro: A Novel of the Russian Underground is available around the world. He's a filmmaker who recently had a showing of his film "Song of Silence," which he directed and acted in.

But most of all, Kaletski, age 66, is a painter, known for his semi-primative works on cardboard. His current show "Designer Trash" is now on exhibit at the Bonbright Gallery, in Brentwood.

"I sold cardboard [paintings] on the street and I loved them," he said about the early versions of his unusual canvases, which he concedes he started using to save money.

Kaletski's life is the sort that they make epic mini-series of. He grew up in the far northern reaches of Russia, then the Soviet Union.After attending theatre school in Moscow, he had to go "underground" for several years, singing songs of protest and selling his paintings, because he didn't have permission to live in the city - a permission he eventually got. But by then things were getting a little hot for him

"I had an apartment," he said. "But I was already involved with the underground... And I was risking my life continuing to perform."

He got out of the Soviet Union, eventually landing in New York City, where he began to make a living singing Russian songs. His music led to an appearance on the Merv Griffin Show, which eventually convinced him to write his novel, which was published in 1985.

"It gave me some money and I could start painting again," Kaletski said. "It took me another 20 years to make a living as a painter."

That's not to say that Kaletski ever stopped painting. But finding his place in the American market was not easy. He said it took years and years for him to adjust his more classical style to the American taste for innovation. He then forced himself to follow the American style, but that didn't entirely work, either.

"But then I completed full circle, and I figured I have to be innovative and at the same time I cannot abandon my Russian roots," said Kaletski, who now lives in New York City. "I have to harmonize both sides of my life, American and Russian."

His paintings on cardboard were something he started in his early days in the U.S., picking up thrown-away cardboard and making paintings and collages. As he began to show his more traditional works on canvas, he never imagined showing his "cardboards." Even though he had hundreds in his studio, he made them because he loved working on the material, not because he expected to show them. Until a gallery owner visiting his studio saw the cardboards and asked to show them.

He's been showing them ever since.

"Designer Trash" will be on display at the , 131 S. Barrington Ave., Brentwood through June 14. For more information, please call 424-832-7940, or e-mail info@bonbrightgallery.com.