Award-winning master artist Katrin Alvarez is known for her compelling, dreamlike, surreal paintings that represent the complexity of human situations. Alvarez focuses on the human figure while introducing multiple references such as objects, animals, etc. to enrich the composition conceptually as well as visually.
Katrin Alvarez started as a journalist, going in-depth into the writing profession, but along the way she taught herself the art of painting, influenced and inspired by Michelangelo and Brueghel.
Hidden inside each of Katrin Alvarez’ paintings is a mood that is impossible to miss, the artist takes her audience on a visual journey as witnesses of people in different stances and circumstances along with elements that make an impact, slowly managing to blend in and propose some radical aesthetic and conceptual ideas.
“Trauma” Oil on Canvas+Objects, 33.4”x25.5”
“The ability to make thoughts and feelings visible is of the utmost importance in my life. But, over the last few years in particular, I’ve found I can no longer do this with the tools I have, as the news from all over the world crashes into my mind, battling for my attention with all its apparent significance. I am left helpless by this shrill pandemonium, full of disrespect and aggression, and by the unconstrained exploitation of nature. I’m still searching for my responsibility as an artist. It can’t be enough to live in an aesthetic ivory tower. I’m far too quiet with my canvass and my paints”.
– Katrin Alvarez
“Requiem” Oil on Canvas, 25.5”x33.4”
“Capitulation” Oil on Canvas+Objects, 41.3”x49.2”
Alvarez’s works are the perfect combination of expressionism and surrealism. Her paintings are troubling and provoking yet soothing, intimate and sensitive yet bizarre, upsetting yet blissful. The compelling and transcendent imagery in her art has a form of teaching, evoking an array of emotions in the viewer. Her masterful use of color and light and skilled knowledge of the human figure allows for perfectly balanced compositions that expand the perceptions of her audience,
creating room for each viewer to form different selfinterpretations of the art.
“Abuse” Pencil on Board, 8.2”x11.4”
“Pain” Colored pencil on Board+object, 14”x18.5”
Showcasing masterful drawing skills, Katrin Alvarez depicts all of the figures and other objects or elements on her canvas with exact precision, something that shows her work is the product of dedicated research. Alvarez uses the gaze in her subjects’ eyes as the focal point of her pieces carrying a full palette of fascination, the result, paintings that are thought-provoking, making use diverse media to have a multidimensional approach.
“You can’t Shred Yesterday!” Oil on Canvas+Objects 22.8”x22.8”
Katrin Alvarez offers both personal and universal messages, as she aims to raise awareness and establish a fruitful discussion with her public considering a vast number of topics that need more consideration. Thus it is very natural that she structures her artistic expression in a way that invites active participation from the audience for the interpretation of her works.
“Painful Reality of Human Relations” Oil on Canvas, 49.6”x37.7”
“Dies Irae” Oil on Canvas, 49.2”x41.3”
“Brainpregnant” Oil on canvas, 15.3”x19.2”
Alvarez is an internationally renowned artist whose works have been exhibited all over the world. She has received many awards for her paintings since 1968, including The First Group show in Cologne in 1968, Art Basel in Switzerland in 1978, and Agora Gallery in New York in 2004, among others. In 2007, her piece Exorcism won the Allan Edwards Award – Painting On the Edge. In 2009, she received the Vivid Arts Network Award at the Museum Castello Estense and a Leonardo Award for Applied Arts in which she was given the first prize in 2013. In 1972, she received an award for her first solo show in Cologne, and in 2012 she came out with yet another celebration in Vienna. Katrin Alvarez’ diverse and vibrant work is what has promoted her as an artist who has established her presence in the global art scene as a distinguished contribution to her creativity.
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