From an early age, Alejandro Alfonso showed an interest in the Arts
and Crafts, especially in gold work. He started out as an apprentice
at “Peter Joyas” (Peter’s Jewellery Studio), under the guidance of
goldsmith, Leandro Walde.
Later, he travelled to Brazil where he made further progress in this
craft, working under the guidance of goldsmiths Leandro Walde
Then, in 1981 he opened his own studio in the city of Sao Paulo.
Back in Uruguay, he took on the position of manager at “Joyería
Cantegrill” (Cantegrill Jewellery Shop) in Montevideo, a jewellery
shop of great renown throughout the country.
In 2002, he studied drawing and painting techniques with artist and
architect, Daniel Heine. In 2005, he joined the artist Prof. Alina Di
Natale’s studio. His first exhibition took place in 2008 under the
auspices of the Uruguayan/American pianist E.G.
He is currently focused on his next presentation, an innovative
independent exhibition, where one can appreciate the deeply genuine
and heart-rending face of the earthbound being and the human condition
depicted on large canvases. They somehow document the sequential
creative process of the artist himself, as well as his particular
approach to his subject matter, embracing the study of the human body,
spirituality and the ever-lasting anguish of contemporary mankind.
Nor does he confine himself only to the pursuit of what is innovative
or revolutionary in his artistic proposals. A dialogue with
tradition is ever present in his works, though he may not always be in
favour with it. In this drifting towards tradition, he has been
identified with such artistic movements as symbolism, with images that
escape reality to embrace the literary world, thus legitimizing his
approach -closer to fantasy, and even more to a mystical view of the
world.
Some of his paintings are brighter and more colourful, and one gets a
sense of his approach to “magical realism”, with a certain northern
slant, thus alluding to the relationship he has with his own culture,
its myths and subjectivity. In others, he shows an almost mystical
respect for the qualities of the object, something we could call the
“metaphysics of the object”. His technical virtuosity continually
renews the spirit of his works, making the deepest chasms of the
unconscious credible in terms of the visual. The complex relationship
between the physical reality and the painted reality becomes evident
in his ambiguity. Manipulative perspectives, multiple meanings and
deliberate instability in his work all combine to give a significant
metaphysical transcendence to his works as a whole.

Alina Di Natale
www.adinatale.tk