“The biggest mistake people have about art is that they think that art is about technique, but art, more than anything else, is about ideas.” - Nelson Alvarez
Written by Rob Looby,
Ashley Bacchus,
& Stephanie Calixto
About the Artist
Nelson Alvarez is an artist, educator and curator at his studio in Woodlawn Heights, the Bronx. Born in Havana Cuba in 1966, Alvarez immigrated to the United States, touching down in New York City in 2003. Currently he holds a bachelor’s in fine arts at Kean University and an MFA in painting at Lehman College at CUNY, New York. One of the many things that stood out about Alvarez was his kind heart and genuine excitement when discussing his motivations and inspirations for his works, as well as his dedication to putting his message before profit. During this interview, we saw glimpses of the Nelson Alvarez that participates in his community and puts emphasis on important matters such as environmental strife in The United States and Cuba, and the perspectives that change the way we see art and the world.
We spoke to Mr. Alvarez via Zoom. The interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
https://neolatinocollective.com/nelson-a
How did you come to join the Neo-Latino Collective?
Before I joined the Neo-Latino collective I was actually working with Raúl Villarreal on a different project called “We Are You.” We worked together on this project for a long time and built a strong bond which led to him inviting me to become a part of the Neo-Latino Collective. During this time he gave me a lot of valuable feedback on my work, mentored me, and also instructed me on how to go about getting my Masters in Fine Arts.
How does your work fit the group's objectives?
I think my work fits into the group’s objectives because while we have a very diverse group of artists, we all share a singular common interest. At the Neo-Latino Collective, we focus on projects that have purpose, empower education, and simultaneously enforce the presence of Latino Art in America.
Can you tell me about any artistic influences you might have? Specific artists? Have they changed over time?
The people and things that influence me are constantly changing depending on where my direction is going at the time and where I am. I love drawing and working with lines and I emphasize a lot on that in my art so I tend to look towards artists who work with drawing a lot as well. My current influence would have to be Alexis Rockman who is an American landscape painter. He does a lot of larger scale paintings and I’m currently planning on working on a project that is much larger scale than I’m used to.
I’ve also been influenced a lot by my professors at Kean and a number of them have had a big impact on me. Neil Tetkowski was the DIrector of University Galleries at the time and I looked at a lot of his work while I was working in ceramics. Joe Jochnowitz was another professor at Kean who influenced me a lot in drawing specifically.
Lastly, since my origins are Cuban I look to Cuban art a lot for reference. While I could try to pick a painter who is my favorite, it’s hard because the list is infinite. I mostly look at artistic influence based on where my direction is going, I have no single influence on my work.
Has your geographic location played an influence on your artwork? In your artist statement you said “I have an interest in creating work from an ecological environmental perspective resulting from my early environmental and social-activism in my native Cuba.” Does your work still reflect this or do you also get inspiration from your current environment?
While it may not always look that way, my work is a reflection of what I believe in. My current chalkboard work, for example, focuses a lot on the point of view and the contradiction between natural life and the phenomenon of industrialization. I have an interest in how these things change and I believe the problem with the environment is how we see the planet. We see it as something separate from us and we don’t see how we interact with it. But we are a part of the planet, we are not the owner of it. I’m trying to contradict how we act and how we see this view in my work. I also include landscapes in my work which are a platform in which you have to be integrated, it’s an ecological point of view.
I have also been following Winona La Duke, an American environmentalist who believes in the philosophy of defending the environment. I’m personally relatively new to environmental activism, but this is because I am now protected. Being that I am from Cuba my family wasn’t exactly involved in politics, they were on the other side, they lost when the revolution happened and my mother didn’t want me to get in trouble or investigated by the government. This is why she enrolled me in a recycling program called Click Patrol which went door to door giving tips on how to conserve energy and develop the country. This program not only kept me out of trouble but it also educated me and helped me become who I am today. It made me more aware of the environment and the problems we create. Today, I use this information to create art, start conversations, and ask questions about the decisions we make about our environment.
Has the coronavirus given you any new ideas or inspiration to portray?
The COVID situation has been a unique opportunity for me because I’ve been teaching at home and all of this free time has inspired me to explore art in a new way. Since masks have become so relevant in today’s world I decided to make my own and even though they’re different from my usual work they still had industrial qualities. I exhibited them for the first time a few months ago at the ChaShaMa exhibit. These masks were a totally new experience for me. I used a different approach that was more technical, which focused on a technique to create contrast and balance, on an object that is industrial, even though I used cardboard which is more natural. My usual approach is done through research which is more formal.
I learned a more formal approach to art while I was working toward my MFA. I was working with Danielle Tegeder at Lehman College who was an excellent professor that showed me how to work as an artist and give a scientific approach to my work. She stressed the importance of the research behind your work and I worked a lot on that concept. For my MFA thesis, I chose to work on a polemic problem in the environment and use my artistic skills and techniques to create an image that reflected that problem.
On my website you will see this painting called BR-364T– a land without people for people without land. This was a slogan used by the Brazilian Government to invade the amazon and degrade it to what it is today. This painting took a lot of research to create. So the approach used for the mask project was very different from research and painting, which is a more formal approach. And it’s not that I abandoned that practice but some ideas need a different approach and I’ve learned that as an artist.
Does your work speak to the current social and or political issues?
Yes, I think my work brings awareness to the environment, which I believe is very political. I am also politically involved in my life and in what I do as an art educator in Newark. I serve a community that needs me, and I am committed to devoting my time and serving them because I have a connection to the people and students. I could easily teach where I live in New York, but I prefer to teach in Newark. My art and teaching are connected, what happens in my studio is what I bring to the classroom.
https://neolatinocollective.com/nelson-alvarez
What do you want your audience to feel or think after looking at your art?
I would like my audience to question the statement I am trying to make, and think about it. This is the biggest reason why it has been difficult for me to sell my art or be a commercial artist. It’s hard art to sell and I don’t have the intention of pushing it too hard because I want to work for the public and not for people to buy my art. This is a hard decision to make as an artist, and it’s not that I don’t want my art to sell, but I have something to say and I expect my audience to feel like they can look at my art and question the meaning behind it. I want them to ask why and what is this image telling me? What is BR-364? I want them to go home and research and see that the meaning behind my art is real and important. I want them to leave my art with a question.
How has your style changed over the years?
To start, I was somebody who did ceramics because I found it fun and also because my girlfriend was an artist. With time though and curiosity, I started to understand the role that art played in my life and the transformation in my work has been part of that.
Sometimes I feel that I have too many things pending because there are always ideas rolling. I always keep a sketchbook and pens with me and this is how I keep my ideas going. When everyone else is in the waiting room reading a magazine, I am drawing. If I need a break from my studio, I have a separate sketchbook that I work with and use my leftover paints from a palette to create new ideas. Part of my practice is to create ideas and the biggest mistake people have about art is that they think that art is about technique, but art, more than anything else, is about ideas. If you have great skill that’s good for you, but you better find the ideas because people with little skill, but with good ideas go far, and if you can combine both, then you're on the right track. I try to push myself out of my comfort zone and I’ve learned that through practice. Right now, I’m experimenting a lot with lines and before I worked a lot with color. Just changing the materials you use can bring you somewhere else. Every idea has a different approach so you have to move with that wave.
What is the best piece of advice you can give to future artists/creatives?
Don’t Stop Working – it’s very difficult to work every day and you have to challenge yourself to do that. People say they don’t have the space, time, materials, funding, exhibitions, and people wait for big chunks of time. You must take every minute, hour, afternoon, late night and use that time and incorporate materials that you aren’t used to using (cardboards, pens, cameras, anything). Keep experimenting and don’t stop working
We found your work quite intriguing and we wanted to know a little bit more about some of your pieces.
Piece 1: Ink on Paper
This was part of a series with watercolor, and ink. Which was a transition piece that took me from working in black and white, to color. It was very experimental. I have a lot of family in Florida, and while visiting them I visited the everglades. I noticed the trees and vegetation there had a very unique way of growing that is totally different from the plants here in the north. This piece came from looking at those places and using a combination of watercolor and ink. First, I completely wet the paper, and then I took a Chinese watercolor brush with watercolor, and almost accidentally moved the brush around to create big areas of color, let it flow, and because the paper is wet it created this. After it dried, I went back and filled the space with lines that disrupt the space, and create movement that reflects a lot of the landscape you see there.
Piece 2: Masks
As I explained earlier, this was an experimental process for me. I got inspired by the relevance of masks in today's world and decided to make my own. I was also able to use a more technical approach to creating it as opposed to the more formal research based approach. There was a little bit of construction involved, as well as drawing. I thought about the geometric space, the function and opposition of the lines, and I built on top of that to give it an industrial kind of character. The eye holes are a little bit of a mystery in the piece. One has one hole, the other has two, and another has a hole but the side is open for the other eye to see. This again is a reflection on point of view, and how we see the planet and how we respond to it.
Piece 3: Chalkboards
This is an idea that is moving from one material to another. At first I started this idea with a watercolor and ink method as we spoke about for Ink on Paper. I wanted to experiment with new materials, so I used chalkboards to create a different point of view of the landscape and inverted the colors that you saw on the Ink on Paper piece. This idea, however, is going to move again to a different material. I have ordered 10 extra large canvases that I plan to hang on the wall and then paint. These will have more elements that can represent or suggest industrialization combined with the current elements, so we will see what happens. This one idea has gone through multiple mediums, it’s like an orange, you keep trying to squeeze as much as you can from it experimenting in different ways.
References
Alvarez, Nelson. BR-364T–a land without people for people without land. 2020, Neo-Latino Collective. Neo-Latino Collective, https://neolatinocollective.com/nelson-alvarez. Accessed 29 April 2021.
Alvarez, Nelson. Color chalk on chalkboard. Facebook, 5 February 2021, https://www.facebook.com/1272491764/posts/10224358669815664/?d=n. Accessed 29 April 2021.
Alvarez, Nelson. Image of Nelson. Nelson Art Studio, Nelson Alvarez, http://www.nelsonarte.com/news-and-events/. Accessed 29 April 2021.
Alvarez, Nelson. Ink on paper. Facebook, 16 December 2020, https://www.facebook.com/1272491764/posts/10223952515462059/?d=n. Accessed 29 April 2021.
Alvarez, Nelson. Masks ready for drop off. Facebook, 3 March 2021, https://www.facebook.com/1272491764/posts/10224543117266735/?d=n. Accessed 29 April 2021.
Alvarez, Nelson - Neo-Latino Collective.” Neo, neolatinocollective.com/nelson-alvarez.