Mindy Alper (born 1959) is an American artist who lives in Greater Los Angeles. Her drawings, paintings, and sculptures focus on the representation of people, either in portraiture or as figures who embody aspects of her inner experience. She has been praised for her ability to articulate complex and profound emotion in her work. Among her art mediaare paint (oil and acrylic), ink, marker pen, papier-mâché, clay, and wood. She was a performance artist in the 1980s, and she plays guitar and violin. Alper is represented by Rosamund Felsen Gallery[2].
Alper is the subject of the documentary film Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 (2016), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 2018.
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Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405 is a 2016 American documentary film directed by Frank Stiefel. Its subject is the artist Mindy Alper. The film earned a nomination for Best Short from the IDA Awards, and won both audience and jury awards at ...
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Release date: October 2016 (Austin Film Festi...
Documentary[edit]
While studying at Tom Wudl Studio in the 2010s, Alper caught the attention of B. J. Dockweiler, a fellow painter and classmate. Dockweiler was fascinated by Alper's work and disposition. Dockweiler's husband, Frank Stiefel, was equally intrigued when he met Alper at a group show and saw some of her pieces. He talked with Alper occasionally, as they attended some of the same art openings.[38] He asked if he could film her as she worked on one of her newest pieces: a monumental bust of her therapist, Shoshana Gerson.[39] After a few months of filming, Stiefel interviewed Alper on camera; five more interviews followed, and Alper's story emerged.[1][20] The film, Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405, premiered at the Austin Film Festival in 2016, where it won the Jury Award and the Audience Award in the "Documentary Short" category. The Jury Award qualified the film for an Academy Award nomination.[40] At the 90th Academy Awards in 2018, it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).[40][41]
