 In 1917-1918 critics placed Alexander on the "extreme left" of emerging modernist art, although Kazimir Malevich described his paintings as "too material".As Alexander moved from fringe abstract art to theatrical design, his sets for Alexander Tairov and Vsevolod Meyerhold shows regularly made headlines while his architectural past was nearly forgotten by contemporary press.Alexander actively experimented with "materializing" cubist art into three-dimensional, dynamic, tangible objects.