Nelson Alvarez
Kunstart: Zeichnung
Technik: Bleistift
Stil: Gegenständlich
Statement:
Artist Statement
My aim in painting is always, using nature as the medium, to try to project upon canvas my most intimate reaction to the subject as it appears when I like it most; when the facts are given unity by interest and prejudice. Why I select certain subjects rather than others, I do not Know, unless it is that I believe them to be the best mediums for a synthesis of my inner experience.
_ Edward Hopper, letter to Charles S Sawyer, October 19, 1939
I am a Cuban-born, New York-based artist working with a variety of media including painting, drawing, and digital photography. My work focuses on the industrialized landscape. The modernization of society became the holocaust of the natural landscape and creates an obsession in my work. My attraction to environmental problems is the result of early activism in my native country.
When I was a nine years old kid, living in Havana, I became member of the “Click Patrol”. It was an organization dedicate to educate people about energy saving issues. At the age of twelve I was enrolled in the “National Recycle Program” as a leader in my community. This very young and unaware activism was the link between my career as an artists and my interest in environmental issues.
The landscape is the protagonist in this aesthetic proposal, and presents as a victim of industrialization. The landscape is documented without frivolity to show the real destruction of industrialization. This speaks to something transcendent in every day life and are possesses an ethereal melancholic beauty. The manipulation of dark and light explore the creation of a heavy and depressed atmosphere. The introduction of texture is intended to reinforce the drama and the lack of hospitality of the landscape. It represent a desperate screaming of survival. The landscape is a eulogy to human desolation: it is full of empty space.
In my landscape the human being is null and it has remarkable intention. The substitution of man by machine is the reason for this emptiness. The drawings seek to document the transformation through a subjugate palette and use of gray scale. The proposes creates a balance between graphic and painterly elements. The work explores the landscape as a memory of the future.
Vita / Lebenslauf:
Curriculum Vitae
Nelson Alvarez was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1966. He immigrated to San Juan Puerto Rico in 1996. He is established in New York City since 2003
Education
2008 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Kean University, Union, NJ “ Cum Laude ”
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2008 “Fragments of Landscape” Nancy Dryfoos Gallery, Union, NJ
2000 “First Exhibition” Galleria Taller San Francisco, San Juan, PR
Selected Group Exhibitions
2009 The 11 Annual Art Show at Hudson View Gardens, HVG Arts Group, New York, NY, USA
“Second Union City Art and Book Expo”Union City, New Jersey, USA
“ Wall to Wall ” City Without Wall Art Gallery, Newark, NJ, USA
“Hispanic Heritage Month”, Union City Performance Art Center, Union City, NJ, USA
“ Sixth Annual Arts Festival”, City Hall Art Gallery, Union City, NJ, USA.
“ Celebrated Art 2009 ” NoHu Cultural Art Center & Saint John Art Gallery, Union City, NJ,USA
“ Fall Spectrum - Words of Color”, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
“Further to the edge” Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition. Brooklyn, NY, USA
“The very first Gallery Aferro Art Benefit, Newark, New Jersey, USA
“ First Union City Art and Book Expo”. Union City, New Jersey, USA
“Celebration of the Cuban Independent” Casino Art Gallery, Schezun Park, Union City, NJ, USA
“ Featuring Artist” The Union City Art Gallery at City Hall, Union City, NJ,USA
2008 “ Night of 1000 Drawing” Artists Space Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2006 “ The Student Works Selection ” Kean University Art Gallery, Union, NJ, USA
2005 “ The Student’s Show ” Kean University Art Gallery, Union, NJ, USA
2004 “ The Last Picture Show ” The Silk Mill Arts Building, Union City, NJ, USA
“Work Selected at the 40th Plainfield Art Festival”, Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
2003 “ Art at the Silk Factory ” The Silk Mill Arts Building, Union City, NJ, USA
1999 “ Presenting the Artists “ Galleria Taller San Francisco, San Juan, PR
1998 “ Grand Opening” Le Vintage Art Gallery, San Juan, PR
1997 “ Permanent Collection “ Island Feeling Gallery, San Juan, PR
Art Groups and Membership
2009 Union City Artist Collective, Union City, NJ, USA
Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY, USA
2008 Allied Art Council, Saint Joseph, MO, USA
Curated Flat Files and Registries
Brooklyn Waterfront Artist Coalition Flat File, Brooklyn,NY, USA
Image Bank, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY, USA
City Without Walls. Newark, New Jersey, USA
The Drawing Center Viewing Program, New York, NY, USA
Artist Space, Artists File Online, New York, NY, USA
Artists. de, Dusseldorf, Germany
Artmesh,org, Switzerland
Bibliography
2008 Nelson Charles: Nelson Alvarez presented Fragments of Landscapes,
May 2008, Composition News, www.kean.edu/~cnelson
2003 Mulero Eugene: Exhibit at Silk Factory jump start scene, October 2003
westnewyorkreporter. com
2001 Vera Jesus: Interview Nelson Alvarez at the Cultural News, WIPR FM 91.3 MHz San Juan .PR September, 5 2001 www.tutv.pr
Garcia Charley: A window to the Caribbean, Arte Latino Americano Magazine, number 2 July - December 2001.
Professional Experience
2009 Teaching “ Making Memory Program”, Aspire Preparatory School, New York City, NY, USA
2005 Recreated Old Seal of the Newark Court House for the United States District Court, District of New Jersey, USA
2004 Restoration of the Eagle sculpture for The Historical American Society of the United States, District of New Jersey, USA
2000 – 2002 Gallery Director at Colores Art Gallery, San Juan, PR
1999 – 2002 Co Founder and Director at Galleria Taller San Francisco, San Juan, PR
Talk and Lectures
2009 All thing Hispanic, Series III, Nelson Alvarez and "The Invisible Landscape" a talk with the artist, Hispanic Club, Kean University, Union, NJ
Selected Award
2009 “Certificate of Appreciation” by the Board of Commissioner for contribution to Celebrated Art Month, Union City, NJ, USA
“Commendation & Praise” by The New Jersey State Senate for contribution to the Union City Art and Book Expo. Trenton, New Jersey, USA
“The State of New Jersey Senate Citation” New Jersey Legislature for contribution to the City Hall Art Gallery, Trenton, New Jersey, USA
“Featuring Artists” City Hall Art Gallery, Union City, NJ, USA
2005 “ Kean University Scholarship” Kean University, Union, NJ, USA
2004 “First Place 40th Plainfield Art Festival” Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
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