“I find beauty in many different things, from a rusty piece of metal to a burnt piece of wood,” says Demetrio Alfonso of West New York.
Alfonso loves found objects so much that they appear on his mixed media art pieces, some of which are now hung in China’s finest art galleries.
Alfonso’s work is showing in different city galleries from Peking to Hong Kong as part of an important traveling art exhibition in the Kalo-Jon Gallery, which is a division of King’s Fine Arts in China.
Works by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, and Andy Warhol are also appearing in this exhibition.
The gallery, which was founded in 1985, is one of the world’s leading contemporary art dealers and hosts a variety of yearly exhibitions. Artists chosen to participate in the gallery are some of the best internationally acclaimed masters who have work exhibited in museums around the world.
A life passion
Born in the Canary Islands of Spain, Alfonso was one of six children, and he knew early on that his future was in the arts.
“The teacher used to get angry at me because my books were always full of drawings,” said Alfonso. “If my mother would punish me, I would draw. I was always drawing.”
At the age of 12 his family moved to Cuba, where Alfonso continued to study and pursue his longtime passion when it came time for college.
“I told my family I wanted to go to the school of fine arts, and they said ‘but you will starve to death. There is no future in that.’ ”
In an attempt to ease his family’s minds and foster his own security, Alfonso studied business administration, but he stayed true to his passion and enrolled in art school as well.
“It’s like with everything else, when you really want to be something,” said Alfonso. “This to me was the natural thing. For me to see color was everything, and it is important in my life and for my well being. [Art] will always be first in my life.”
Alfonso graduated from San Alejandro Fine Art School in Cuba, which is said to be the second finest art school in the world. While studying at the school, he also received several accolades for his artistic excellence.
Despite his family’s initial concerns, today they couldn’t be prouder.
Restorations and transformations
In 1964, Alfonso left Cuba and returned to Spain, where he spent some time in Madrid before permanently relocating to the United States in 1965.
Upon his arrival, Alfonso continued to study and enrolled in both the School of Visual Arts in New York City and the Arts Students League.
“I studied an academic type of painting, and throughout my studies here I started to work with art restoration,” said Alfonso. “For me, art history was one of my favorite things about art, and I started to read and learn about American artists.”
For a while, Alfonso focused on his art history and restorations and rarely picked up a paintbrush.
“I didn’t have the time to paint as much as I wanted to,” said Alfonso.
However, in the last five years Alfonso reached his glorious epiphany of shunning traditional methods, and he took his paintbrush in a new direction.
“It was a point in my life where I said to myself, ‘Demetrio, it is enough of this, you have to paint what is really in your heart,’ ” said Alfonso. “I always believed in change and it happens to everyone who is involved in the arts. There is more passion in what I’m doing now and I hope it lasts until the end.”
Discarded materials
Influenced by music and his love for humanity, Alfonso started to incorporate new mediums into his art work, from different types of paints to discarded materials he would find, like burnt wood and even dried up calamari. He allowed them to take shape before his eyes on the canvas with no prior planning.
“I love textures and I love color, and I try to combine them with the feelings I have,” said Alfonso.
Alfonso has also continued in the art restoration business for about 35 years, owns his own art conservation studio on Madison Avenue in New York City, and has gained an astute reputation among art dealers and collectors.
It was through one these art dealers that Alfonso’s work came before the Kalo-Jon Gallery.
Since then, Alfonso’s work has garnered a following and been exhibited in private collections and galleries such as the Hammoner Gallery and Scott/Alan in SoHo, New York.
After agreeing to exhibit some of his work in a gallery in Chelsea, Alfonso’s slides were among a group sent to China.
Embraced by the Far East
“I was told people were very attracted to my paintings because it was different from what China was used to seeing,” said Alfonso.
Alfonso’s mixed organic materials and earthy color tones impressed the gallery and his work was selected. “First it was in Beijing, and then it traveled to Shanghai and other cities,” said Alfonso.
The show traveled throughout the spring and in the end, Alfonso’s pieces were bought by different museums in China for permanent display.
“The Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai bought one of the panels,” said Alfonso.
Alfonso was also recently honored by his hometown of West New York, where he has been living for 25 years.
Mayor Albio Sires presented Alfonso with a proclamation from the city for his work and contributions to the community at the last Board of Commissioners meeting. He also presented Alfonso with a proclamation from the state Assembly.
Alfonso is very active in the community, which he loves, and volunteers for many city events. He also sings in choir for St. Augustine Church every Sunday.
“He loves West New York and he says West New York is his town,” said Angela Arrechea, a friend of Alfonso. Alfonso is also currently in negotiations for a show in the Canary Islands.