Lot Essay
Carlos Alfonzo used the syncretic vocabulary of Catholicism and Afro-Cuban Santería as an immediate link to the cultures he knew. The presence of the icons of these religious practices such as the cross, the knife, eyes and the pierced tounges in Alfonzo's work served as elements of self-transfiguration. It was through the representation of his cultural roots that Alfonzo found his identity as an artist and as a Cuban exile living in Miami. The most powerful aspect of his work is therefore the fusion of a Neo-Expressionistic style with his own investigation of identity and the transcultural identities within the United States.
Through the continual contrasts between light and dark, flatness and depth and even the reworking of surfaces, Alfonzo formally expressed his personal desire of self-transfiguration. The work equally recalls the Abstract Expressionistic belief in the subconscious, as offering a mirror to the universe's own hidden mechanisms. Alfonzo's paintings are imaginary and self-referential depictions of his cultural past and present, and each symbol carries a meaning of obsession, revelation and fantasy.
Through the continual contrasts between light and dark, flatness and depth and even the reworking of surfaces, Alfonzo formally expressed his personal desire of self-transfiguration. The work equally recalls the Abstract Expressionistic belief in the subconscious, as offering a mirror to the universe's own hidden mechanisms. Alfonzo's paintings are imaginary and self-referential depictions of his cultural past and present, and each symbol carries a meaning of obsession, revelation and fantasy.