René Alvarado

Paintings are created from confronting one’s internal mirror and its reflection of the external landscape. The contrast of these concepts relates to people who have no other outlet. Empowerment is born when one faces the darkest, more secretive parts of their soul. In my case, the painting process is a personal exploration of the psychological, metaphorical, and spiritual aspects of my life’s journey. Stories are conveyed through a transparent, yet visual, vibrant language. By tapping into my instincts and becoming one with the subject matter, I seek to provide a voice and entry point into my experiences. Everyone has stories to tell, and I am no different.
The creative process is exploratory and surprising, the instinct for all art forms. It embraces that instinct of inspiration and transforms it into a craft. Along the way, I observe the craft of paintings and its narratives where I develop a democracy of inclusiveness, cooperation, and a dialogue of security of human rights. Included in these pillars of the human condition and common good, are the tools to responsibly merge political and cultural awareness.
My Mexican ancestors as well as the dichotomy of a new way of life my hard-working migrant parents introduced to me, have opened opportunities to join the efforts of understanding and joining a community of artistic endeavors. This is essential to the common welfare and prosperity of the world stage of fundamental rights without distinction as to race , nationality, creed, or sex. Aesthetically, art has the strength and grace to unite cultural and spiritual values. Conceptually, the creative journey is one where transformation from studio , state, or country are the high purposes of civilizations to embrace education towards justice, freedom and peace. The enigmatic marriage of cultural diversities of domestic and international relations, unite one purpose…the human race and good faith without aggression or controversies to the human spirit.

THE HUMAN CONDITION AS MUSE:

“ I gave you life so that you could be free”…the strongest words from my mother. The theme of my exhibition is the human condition because it is like the creative process in complexity and also its simplicity. My work, both figurative and surreal, reveals juxtapositions of imagery in riots of color that narrate the fusion of two cultures and the life experiences of dual identities. My paintings convey that social rhetoric. This exhibition is a visual language inspired by generations of Mexican families immigrating to the United States and those left behind. The pueblo people of low resources, usually from farming communities, are represented.I was born into a matriarchal community in Mexico. There I lived my first six years of life. Later, in my early years of making art my career, I vowed to give those people a platform, a voice that channeled through my instincts where I made the canvas their stage and created for them a world that was more than the societal role they were bestowed. I present them beyond their fate as mother and father. Their hardworking, selfless, and loving devotion in both faith and tradition carried them with dignity while still primitive in beauty and grace. My paintings narrate a sensitive approach of that social, political and cultural class. Their symbolic elements express unity, as in the painting “Confrontation,”where my mother followed my father with eight children to the United States to restructure a base relation for raising a family in a new culture. Just as I layer compositions to transcend narratives, this exhibition exemplifies not only my family’s journey, but that of many immigrant families that come together and evolve within their own paths. My work is defined by my familial roots in Northern Mexico, and by the subtle, mystical environment of my adopted home in West Texas. My creative process is immersed in this dual identity; I paint what I feel, that which is me. You will see on the canvas the richness of my grandparents’ folk tales alongside the adventures of the “new life” created by my hardworking immigrant parents. Through symbolism, metaphors, and pictorial language, I tell my story.