Author Description

The sixty-four page exhibition catalogue Carlos Alfonzo: Extreme Expression, 1980-1991 reproduces in color each of the forty-five paintings, works on paper, and sculpture in the exhibition held at the Freedom Tower in Miami, Florida in 2006-2007. The catalogue proposes new perspectives on the artists worldview, creative processes, and subjects. Carlos Alfonzo (Cuba- Miami, 1950-1991) was a key figure in the development of expressionist painting in the 1980s. Dr. Julia P. Herzbergs essay A Dialogue with Life and Death discusses the artists subjects, interests, sources, formal strategies, and critical fortune within the dynamics of his evolving practice in Miami as a post-Mariel artist. Alfonzo evolved a singularly distinctive vocabulary in painting and, later, in sculpture with which to express subjects that were in turn mundane, existential, and spiritual. In attempting to come to terms with life, death, and sexuality, Alfonzo often connected incidents and anxieties in everyday life, charging them with energy, mystery, and emotion. From a self-reflexive perspective, he had the ability to draw viewers into his world and inspire them to rediscover their common humanity. Few artists have explored the subject of AIDs with Alfonzo s spiritual passion and directness. In addition to the curatorial essay, the catalogue includes a Foreword and Acknowledgments by Juan P. Loumiet, a Sponsors Statement: The Terra Group by Pedro and David Martin, and a Preface by Julia P. Herzberg.