| Paintings and Works on Paper, 1987-1991 |
|
| May 18 - Jun 30, 1999 | |
During May and June, the George Adams Gallery will show paintings, works on paper and two scultpures by Carlos Alfonzo. Alfonzo, who was born in Cuba in 1950 and came to the U.S. in 1980, lived and worked in Miami until his death in 1991. During his lifetime, Carlos Alfonzo was included in "Hispanic Art in the United States: Thirty Contemporary Painters and Sculptors" 1987-1988 (his painting appeared on the cover of the catalogue) and the 1989 Corcoran Bienial, both of which travelled extensively throughout the U.S. He was also included in "The Decade Show" organized jointly in 1990 by the New Museum, the Studio Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art in New York City, and in the 1991 Whitney Biennial. Most recently he was the subject of a major retrospective organized by the Miami Art Museum which traveled to the Hirshhorn Museum in 1998. The present exhibition is the first one-man show of Carlos Alfonzo's work since 1993, and the first in New York since 1988. The exhibition will feature work in different medias from 1987 to 1991, the period which begins with the lively and intensely colored, cubistic canvasses dealing with his life and religion (Santeria), and ends with the darkly somber works that foretell his death from AIDS. Included in the exhibition are, for example, Jim at the Gym, 1987, a warmly colored canvas crowded with abstracted images refering to Santeria. In stark contrast is Circulo #8, 1990, one of a series of dark - and stark - paintings made just before his death; where the earlier work suggests youthful vitality and passion, the later work's austere palette and black tones convey the full range of emotions of a young man confronting death. Other works in the exhibition include a major large-scale painting God Backwards, 1987, a studio scene titled Chairs and Figure (God in the Studio) 1989, and an eleven foot long acrylic on paper from 1987. For an insight into the way Alfonzo worked, there are also a series four large acrylic on paper sketches, four monotypes and two steel sculpture all of which echo motifs that appear in Circulo #8. Exhibition Checklist Clockwise from the right: 1. Sculpture with Gun and Knife, c. 1988 gouache on paper 30 1/2 x 21 inches CALd 15 2. Untitled, 1990 welded metal with paint 21 1/2 x 14 x 21 inches CALs 1 3. God (Turned) Backwards, 1987 oil on canvas 120 x 120 inches CALp 4 4. Untitled, 1987 acrylic, pencil onpaper 24 x 131 1/4 inches CALd 1 5. Jim at the Gym, 1986 acrylic on canvas 91 x 87 inches CALp 1 6. Head IV, 1990 monotype, ink on paper 31 x 22 1/2 inches CALd 9 7. Head I, 1990 monotype, ink on paper 31 x 22 1/2 inches CALd 6 8. Chairs and Figure, 1989 oil on canvas 65 x 61 inches CALp 3 9. Source of Light, 1989 gouache on paper 30 x 43 1/2 inches CALd 5 10. Circulo #8, 1990 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches CALp 2 11. Head III, 1990 monotype, ink on paper 29 1/2 x 22 1/4 inches CALd 8 12. Head II, 1990 monotype, ink on paper 29 1/2 x 22 1/4 inches CALd 7 13. Olive Head, 1990 gouache on paper 31 1/2 x 23 1/2 inches CALd 14 14. Untitled, 1987 ink, tempra, gouache on paper 48 x 31 inches CALd 16 |
