Attributed to Carlos Alfonzo, it does not have a COA. Medium: acrylic canvas. 40 x 30 inches. The canvas has some missing paint on the bottom right, please refer to photos for more details. Provenance: private owner.
Biography: 1950 - 1991. Carlos Alfonzo (1950–1991) was a Cuban-American painter known for his neo-impressionistic style. His work has been collected by Whitney Museum of American Art and Smithsonian Institution.He was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1950. He attended the Academia San Alejandro in Cuba, where he received a degree in art in 1973. He later attended the University of Havana, where he received an art history degree in 1977.In hopes of finally attaining true freedom as an individual and an artist, and after days spent crowded into the Peruvian Embassy, Alfonzo left Cuba via the Mariel boatlift in 1980, on a journey that was marred by violence. "One of many artists who came to the United States in the Mariel boat lift, Alfonzo quickly developed a following in this country."In a paradox reflective of his art, Carlos Alfonzo’s profuse artistic energy reached new heights alongside rising critical acclaim; meanwhile, he quietly and privately faced the AIDS virus as it ravaged his body and life force. He was selected by the Whitney Museum of Art in New York as an artist exemplifying the most recent accomplishment in contemporary art, to be exhibited in the 1991 Biennial. Fate intervened; the artist died one month prior to the Biennial exhibition, which anchored his position in contemporary art.Carlos Alfonzo's early work was inspired by the iconography of Castro-era propaganda. His later work is informed by the impressionistic style of masters Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. Alfonzo borrowed forms from Cuban Santería, medieval Catholic mysticism, and tarot cards to build a system of symbols floating in huge limpid tears. Many of his works holds subtle clues that evoke Alfonzo's homosexuality and the fear and anger generated by the AIDS epidemic.Alfonzo's life was claimed by AIDS in Miami, Florida in 1991. "Morbid though the notion may sound, death became the work of Carlos Alfonzo."[10] "Witness, a piece created by the artist in 1990, tackles the artist’s own mortality as part of a series of “Black Paintings” made shortly before his death."Paradoxically, Alfonzo made the decision to leave Cuba just 8 months before the opening of the pivotal Volumen 1 (Volume 1) exhibition that heralded a new international direction in contemporary Cuban art, and where Alfonzo was slated to exhibit among those who would later become known as the 1980s generation.Within the decade following his exile from Cuba, the young artist and political refugee was awarded a Cintas Fellowship in the visual arts in 1983 and a visual artist fellowship in Painting from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington D.C. in 1984.His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows on a national and international scale including the 1991 Whitney Biennial, the exhibition entitled Hispanic Art in the United States, which traveled to seven prominent American institutions, and the 41st Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting at Corcoran Gallery."His work was represented in the Outside Cuba exhibition and the Cuba-USA: The First Generation traveling exhibition."Carlos Alfonzo was the subject of several solo exhibitions in institutions including the Miami Art Museum, the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach, the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in North Carolina, and the Hal Bromm Gallery in New York.His work was featured in Triumph of the Spirit: Carlos Alfonso, A Survey 1975–1991, published by the Miami Art Museum.

All authorship of items in this catalog are described according to the following terms:

Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : The work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

Circle of [Artist Name] : A work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil.

Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

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