Desirée Alvarez

Artist Statement

My work investigates the transformation of persona. The characters-faces, flowers, animals-shift from one state to another. The metamorphosis involves struggle and ecstasy and is enacted on a mythic terrain. The territory is at once eerie, uncanny and handmade. For me the act of painting exists to give face to that which is hidden: the vibrations between creatures and their surround, and the structure of desire. Each work is a wish for the ultimate transformation- peace between us and our world.

Desirée Alvarez
January 2010

Biography

Desirée Alvarez is a painter and fabric artist. She makes oil paintings and drawings and uses a wide range of printmaking techniques, including woodcut and drypoint, to create giant fabric installations. Her work has won numerous awards including an Urban Artist Initiative 2006 grant, the Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture Award, several New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship Awards, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Willard L. Metcalf Award, and a Lower East Side Printshop Special Edition Fellowship. She has been an artist in residence at P.S. 122 and Yaddo. Alvarez has received commissions from El Museo del Barrio, the government of Ireland, CORK European Capital of Culture, Cork Printmakers, Queens Theater in the Park and the Urban Artists Initiative, sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

Alvarez has exhibited her work nationally and internationally at Sirius Art Center, Ireland, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France Le Temple, France, The Center for Book Arts, Abrons Art Center, Wesleyan University, Long Island University, Berkshire College, Pasadena Art Center, Chapman University, SUNY Rockland, El Museo del Barrio, California College, Queens Theater in the Park, Anchor Graphics, Taller Boricua, Exit Art, the Nathan Cummings Foundation Gallery, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, International Print Center New York, and Central Booking Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Alvarez is part of an international drawing collaborative called "Weather Report" involving artists around the world. She has also curated exhibitions at International Print Center New York and at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater gallery.

Alvarez writes poetry and non-fiction, with poems appearing in Poetry Magazine, Boston Review, Denver Quarterly and Ellen LaForge Poetry Award Journal. Her non-fiction won the 2001 Robert D. Richardson Non-Fiction Award. Her poetry was recently a finalist for awards from Boston Review, Alice James Books, and Tupelo Press. She received a BA in fine art and English literature from Wesleyan University, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts. She teaches in the art department at New York College of Technology, CUNY.

Resume

AWARDS

2006  Urban Artists Initiative Special Project Grant
2005  Cork Printmakers Residency Award, Cork 2005 European Cultural Capital, Ireland
2003   New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship Award
2001   The Robert D. Richardson Non-Fiction Award, Denver Quarterly
1999   American Academy of Arts and Letters, Willard L. Metcalf Award
1997   New York Foundation for the Arts, Artist Fellowship

FELLOWSHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

2000   Painting Space 122, P.S. 122, Artist in Residence, 1999-2000
1998   Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY
1998   Manhattan Graphics Center Fellowship
1998   Lower East Side Printshop, Inc., Special Edition Fellowship Project

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2002   Michael Kimmelman, The New York Times, "Real Flesh, Not Perfect or Prurient"
2001   Denver Quarterly, University of Denver, "The Model as Painter and Painted," essay
2000   The New York Times, "The Lonely Life of a Free Spirit," Sunday, April 30
1999   Art in America, "Awards," July
1998   Beth Piskora, New York Post, "New York Woman"
1995   Michael Duncan, "Fabrication: Formal, found and funky," catalogue essay

EXHIBITIONS

SOLO

2010   Minor Memorial Gallery, Roxbury, CT
2007   Taller Boricua, NY, NY, "4 Projects"
2006   California University of Pennsylvania, California, PA
2005   Le Temple, Lacaze, France
2003   SUNY Rockland, Rotunda Gallery, Rockland, NY
2003   Queens Theater in the Park, Queens, NY
2002   Koussevitzky Art Gallery, Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield, MA
2001   St. Peter's Church, NY, NY
1998   Art Resource Transfer Inc., NY, NY

LARGE INSTALLATIONS

2008   International Print Center New York, "Artist Commentary"

2007  Taller Boricua, NY, NY

2006   "Going Under," film directed by Eric Werthman, starring Roger Rees

2005   Sirius Arts Center, Cobh, Ireland, CORK 2005

Center for Book Arts, "Paris/ New York"
Abrons Art Center, "Dialogue"
Housatonic Museum, "Innovations in Contemporary Printmaking,"
Bridgeport, CT
Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY, "Dialogue"
Cité des Arts, Paris, France

2004   International Print Center, Impresionante! Innovative Prints by

Contemporary Puerto Rican Artists, curated by Deborah Cullen and Harper Montgomery, NY, NY Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, installation, "The Alumni Show," Middletown, CT

SELECTED GROUP

2009   International Print Center New York New Prints Winter 2009, NY, NY

Natural Histories, Central Booking, Brooklyn, NY
Faculty Exhibit, Grace Gallery, CityTech, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY
CityTech Hispanic Women, Grace Gallery, CityTech, Brooklyn, NY
Ajara Art Museum, Batumi, Georgia
Anchor Graphics Columbia College Chicago, New Prints, Chicago, IL
Other Other II High Visibility, Nathan Cummings Foundation, NY, NY

2008   International Print Center, New Prints 2007/08

Faculty Exhibit, Grace Gallery, CityTech, Brooklyn, NY

2007   Gallery 4H, Philadelphia, PA

Faculty Exhibit, Grace Gallery, CityTech, Brooklyn, NY

2006   International Print Center New York, "New Prints 2006," NY, NY

Lower East Side Printshop, Summer '06 Show, NY, NY

2005   Kosova Art Museum, Hope Box

Roman Petrovic Gallery, Sarajevo, Drawings
Centar Za Kulturu, Mostar, "Weather Report"
SKC Gallery, Belgrade, Hope Box

2004   International Print Center, "New Prints 2004/ Spring," NY, NY,

curated by Barry Walker 30 Vandam, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellows Exhibition, New York, NY
Art for Living, New York, NY
Johannesburg Art Gallery, "Hopebox Drawings," an international drawing collaborative, Johannesburg, South Africa

2003   Spark!, "Hopebox," Johannesburg, South Africa

Minds, I, "Hopebox," Pretoria, South Africa
NSA Gallery, "Hopebox," Durban, South Africa
Durban Art Gallery, "Hopebox," Durban, South Africa

2002   Virtual Museum of Contemporary African Art, "Weather Report"

Library of Congress, "Reactions," Washington, DC
Abrons Art Center, Henry Street Settlement, "Memory & Metaphor," NY, NY
Exit Art, "Reactions," NY, NY
Queensland College of Art Gallery, "Hope Box Peep-Show 2001", Griffith
University, Queensland, Australia
The Parrish Art Museum, "The Thirty-Seventh Juried Exhibition," Southampton, NY

2000   Williamsburgh Art & Historical Center, "Yaddo Artists," NY, NY

"Weather Report" in Mai Gallery, Hanoi and Blue Sace Art Centre, Ho Chi Minh City

1999   American Academy of Arts and Letters, NY, NY,

"Exhibition of Work by Newly Elected Members and Recipients of Honors and Awards"
El Museo del Barrio, NY, NY, "The Selected Files: NY Artists of Latin American Heritage
American Academy of Arts and Letters, NY, NY, "Invitational Exhibition of Painting & Sculpture"

1998   Galerie Station 3, Vienna, Austria, "Druckgrafik aus New York"

Dorfman Projects, NY, NY, "The Tip of the Iceberg: A Response To NY Museums
Dave Muller's Three Day Weekend, "Cover," Los Angeles, CA

1996   University of Columbia, Bogota, Columbia, "Fusion Gravado"

Long Island University, NY, "Survey"

1995   Dalarnas Museum, Sweden, "Grafiker Falubiennalen 95"

The Guggenheim Gallery, Chapman University, Orange, CA, "Fabrication"
Art Center, Pasadena, CA, "Multimediation," Four Printmakers

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2009 Poetry Magazine, poem
2008 Boston Review, poem
        Ellen LaForge Poetry Prize Journal, poems
2006   Tweed Museum, University of Minnesota, Philip Pearlstein catalogue essay
2005  Denver Quarterly, University of Denver, poems Haberarts.com, "Making Books"

EDUCATION

1992   Master of Fine Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
1987   Atelier Mac'Avoy; Academie Port-Royal, Paris, France
1985   Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art and English, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT

TEACHING

2002 - present:   New York City College of Technology, CUNY, Brooklyn, NY, Adjunct Lecturer

OTHER

2005   Curator, "New Prints 2005" International Print Center New York, NY, NY

2009   Curator," The Wall," Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Gallery, NY, NY<

2003-2009   Executive Board, Lower East Side Printshop