Emil Alzamora: Mutability
Pontone Gallery presents a new collection of work by the artist Emil Alzamora. Born in Peru and educated in the USA, where his practice is based, he has built an impressive international curriculum vitae. Best known for his figurative sculpture, this exhibition also features paintings, a recent development.
Alzamora uses the portrait-bust as a format to explore themes of identity. He makes ceramic heads, moulded from clay, which are fired and glazed to achieve a rich and sensuous variety of colour and texture. In contrast to their art-historic derivation, the heads are deliberately generic. They avoid concepts of representation. The artist states "anyone can project themselves into the busts that I make". The modular forms are subject to a disparate series of interventions and additions: representations of leaves, shrouds of material, helmets, mask-like structures and non-specific shards and lumps of matter are applied. Alzamora describes these accretions as visually analogous to the experiential "luggage" we carry, and how personality is built and shaped over time.
Pursuing his subject in painting, and explicitly rejecting brushes, Alzamora uses his hands to make images which are expressive, two-dimensional equivalents to his sculptures. Marks made by dragging the fingers through the paint coalesce to create coiled images of the figure, dynamically transformed by the collision between material and gesture.
This is a startling, and sometimes visceral, sequence. Elegant porcelain surfaces, glistening with metallic glazes are contrasted by hard-edged appendages, earthy masses and crumblings. Sinister wrappings and veils conceal appearance and hint at alienation. Amid all this we detect an underlying pre-occupation with beauty and refinement, evident in the skill of craftsmanship and attention to technique. Emil Alzamora's work is a sophisticated performance of sculptural process. Malleability and mutability are the touchstones of his practice.
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On The Royal Road 18, 2019Ceramic, Oil Paint61 x 41 x 23 cm
24 x 16 x 9 in -
250,000,000, 2020Ceramic (local harvest), epoxy resin64.7 x 53 x 30.5 cm
25.5 x 21 x 12 in -
A Great Turbulence, 2021Oil on gessoed paper35.6 x 28 cm
14 x 11 in -
A Slow Unraveling, 2020Oil on panel50 x 48 cm
19.8 x 18.8 in -
Axis Mundi I, 2018Ceramic, paint51 x 53.3 x 30.5 cm
20 x 21 x 12 in -
Axis Mundi II, 2018Ceramic, bronze powder, glaze, graphite powder, wax51 x 53.3 x 38 cm
20 x 21 x 15 in -
Baby Dogs of Campidoglio, 2021Ceramic, gold overglaze61 x 19 x 40 cm
24 x 7.5 x 15.8 in -
Chlorophobe, 2021Oil on gessoed paper35.6 x 28 cm
14 x 11 in -
Cladonia, 2020Oil on panel25.7 x 17 cm
10 x 6.8 in -
Falconer, 2019Acrylic on panel25.4 x 20 cm
10 x 8 in -
Glory, 2019Ceramic, acrylic paint, graphite powder, wax
60 x 63.5 x 35.6 cm
23.5 x 25 x 14 in -
In The Solution, 2020Oil on panel24 x 24 cm
9.6 x 9.6 in -
Liquidity, 2021Oil on gessoed paper38 x 28 cm
15 x 11 in -
On The Royal Road No. 15, 2019Ceramic, gold overglaze
56 x 42 x 23 cm
22 x 16.5 x 9 in -
Pink Wave, 2020Oil on panel
61 x 46 cm
24 x 18 in -
On The Royal Road No. 24, 2019Ceramic, oil paint58.4 x 42 x 23 cm
23 x 16.5 x 9 in -
On The Royal Road No. 25, 2019Ceramic, oil paint58.4 x 42 x 23 cm
23 x 16.5 x 9 in -
Red Rain, 2020Oil on gessoed paper35.6 x 28 cm
14 x 11 in -
Peaceful Sea, 2019Ceramic, graphite, adhesive68.6 x 51 x 30.5 cm
27 x 20 x 12 in -
Philosopher No. 4, 2020Ceramic, steel, resin, graphite, aluminum
80 x 29.2 x 28 cm
31.5 x 11.5 x 11 in -
Self-Portrait As An Ocean Current Pt 2, 2020Oil on panel46 x 34.5 cm
18.3 x 13.6 in -
Ritual 1, 2019Ceramic53.3 x 42 x 23 cm
21 x 16.5 x 9 in -
Self Portrait As Cambium, 2020Oil on panel
26 x 24 cm
10.3 x 9.5 in -
Staccato, 2020Oil on panel51 x 40 cm
20 x 16 in -
Swimming With Architeuthis Dux, 2020Oil on panel17 x 15 cm
6.8 x 5.8 in -
The Lighthouse Keeper, 2019Oil on panel60 x 44.5 cm
23.8 x 17.5 in -
The Lion Tamer, 2020Oil on panel32 x 25 cm
12.5 x 10 in -
The Punchline Prophet, 2021Oil on gessoed paper39 x 30.5 cm
15.5 x 12 in -
The Taste of Copper, 2019Acrylic on canvas51 x 40.6 cm
20 x 16 in -
Warrior No. 3, 2020Ceramic, graphite paint54.6 x 41.9 x 23 cm
21.5 x 16.5 x 9 in -
Usnea, 2020Oil on panel25 x 17 cm
10 x 6.8 in -
Wanderlust 1, 2021Oil on gessoed paper51 x 40 cm
20 x 15.8 in -
Wanderlust 2, 2021Oil on gessoed paper36 x 28 cm
14 x 11 in -
Warrior No. 8, 2019Ceramic, gypsum, epoxy resin, porcelain56 x 53.3 x 25.4 cm
22 x 21 x 10 in