Carlos Alfonzo

Resumen del Libro

Triumph of the Spirit examines the work of the late Cuban American painter Carlos Alfonzo (1950-1991). The book traces the development of his evocative and complex visual language in works ranging from early, ideographic works on paper to the final, monumental canvas Blood, painted months before his AIDS-related death. After emigrating to the United States in 1980 as part of the Mariel boatlift, Alfonzo developed a national reputation from his home base in Miami. His work was included in the 1987 exhibition Hispanic Art in the United States. Yet it was not until his inclusion in the 1991 Whitney Biennial that the artist was considered in the broader context of 20th-century abstraction. Triumph of the Spirit extends the dialogue on Alfonzos art and enriches the debate on transcultural identities within the United States.