One to Watch
Evolution and Expressionism with Alfonso Sánchez
Spanish painter and biologist Alfonso Sánchez creates compelling visual narratives inspired by human history which synthesize science, anthropology, and art. The emerging artist to watch has been featured in the Saatchi Art catalog and exhibits regularly in Spain. Keep reading to learn more about Alfonso’s background, practice, and influences.
Tell us about who you are and what you do. What’s your background?
My name is Alfonso Sánchez, a visual artist based in Alicante, Spain. I am a biologist by training, and all my life, I have been an entrepreneur, creating different companies throughout my career. In parallel to this professional activity, I have always painted. Several years ago, I left my business activity and dedicated myself exclusively to art.
What does your work aim to say? What are the major themes you pursue in your work?
I have developed a lyrical, gestural, and intuitive type of painting, trying to connect with the most primitive part of my brain. It is a layered work, where the new covers the old but always leaves a trace. Because of my training, I am interested in everything that has to do with the origin of life on Earth, the evolution of species, and especially our own evolution as hominids until we began to express ourselves with painting.
Can you walk us through your process for creating a work from beginning to end?
I like to say that I paint with a lost gaze without paying much attention to what appears on the canvas, accepting and taking advantage of the accident. All the parts are assembled to the rhythm of rock, jazz, or flamenco, which always plays in my studio. Little by little, the different elements, initially unrelated to each other, create links. Many times the work is simplified in the final part, seeking an aesthetic and accentuating the elements that suggest stories, thoughts, or illusions. My painting currently is a figurative abstraction where the gesture, the intuition, the symbol, and the figure build the works, layer by layer.
Who are your biggest influences, and why?
I am influenced by many painters that I love and from all artistic disciplines, but I try to take advantage of all that influence to build my own work. I am passionate about the mysticism and expressionism of cave paintings such as Chauvet or the Orantes, painted by the first Neolithic people who occupied Alicante. Cinema and great science fiction stories are often present in my works. 2001, Dune, Interstellar, or Blade Runner influence my painting with their aesthetics and their vision of dystopian futures that make my imagination fly. With all these influences on the past and the future, I have been building my own universe of marks, symbols, and characters that help me communicate stories that speak of the passage of time, connecting past worlds with our current life and with future derivatives.
How does your work comment on current social and political issues?
I am interested in the essence of the human being, in the dilemma between our animal part and what makes us human: the good and the bad. From this point of view, one can observe my concern for the environmental problems that we have created in my work. Acting as “gods” we have exploited nature without control, causing the disappearance of many animal and plant species.
How do you hope viewers respond to your works? What do you want them to feel?
I love seeing how each viewer reacts individually and differently to one of my works. The greatness of art is that each work “evolves” in the viewer’s mind, generating different sensations and meanings. I don’t try to generate a concrete response from the viewer. My main goal is to make a painting that is honest with myself and that has to do with me. From here, I hope that the viewer enjoys the work and generates a particular connection with it.
If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
Fortunately, I have been able to do many things in life, enjoying each stage. I have created and developed companies related to environmental protection, the promotion of responsible consumption, sports, and health, among other things. After all this experience, I wish to do nothing more than dedicate myself to painting for the rest of my life.
What are some of your favorite experiences as an artist?
In 1985, I entered the Venice Biennale of Architecture with a series of tapestries based on a villa in the Veneto. I was thrilled to find my artwork was accepted in a competition for architects, and I won one of ten Stone Lion awards. I also had a residency at Bloedel Reserve in Washington in 2016. Amid a glorious forest of trees, I became bewitched by things like the eyes peering at me from alder trees, the moodiness of the rain and light, and the Mycorrhizal network.
Who are some of your favorite artists and why?
I love the Neo-Expressionist painters from the 80s who are still doing great things today. I would choose the Spaniard Miquel Barceló and the American Julian Schnabel, both for their ability to connect with the essence of the human being and their way of seeing life.
