Romancing the mundane
Chris Alvarez, Gila Blue, oil, 24 x 36.
Whether he’s observing a vintage car or a mountain landscape, a farm hen or a residential street scene, Chris Alvarez views the world around him with the wonder of a child and the soul of an artist. “I’m always looking for an interesting arrangement or design, and I challenge myself to make something ordinary, extraordinary,” the Colorado Springs, CO, painter says. “What I try to do on canvas is to put the romance into the mundane so that viewers may perhaps carry that viewpoint into their own lives.”
The artist effectively elevates the everyday in oil, applying the medium economically through bold brush strokes and runny washes. For him, it’s all about the light and values. “Using Kim English’s approach to brushworked light as a benchmark, I work to create the light and achieve the correct value,” Alvarez notes, referring to the respected impressionist painter and teacher. “If I get that right, then I can be more expressive with color.”
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- Chris Alvarez, School Hen, oil, 18 x 18.
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- Chris Alvarez, Players on the Plaza, oil, 20 x 20.
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- Chris Alvarez, The Mustang Sleeps Tonight, oil, 16 x 20.
As for color, “I put on my van Gogh glasses, so to speak,” he continues. “I ask myself what colors he’d observe in the object or scene in front of me. I find that it’s not so much being able to paint the colors as it is being able to see the colors.”
Alvarez has spent the past two decades helping others to appreciate and express what they see. The artist received his bachelor’s degree in fine art from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, in 2001, and he began teaching a year later. Now a well-known figure drawing and painting instructor in the Pikes Peak region, he opened the Alvarez Art School in 2010, where he developed a holistic art program for adults and children. In 2018, he added a gallery to the downtown Colorado Springs school. Through it all, Alvarez has won awards and recognition and was recently included in the Colorado Governor’s Art Show and Sale.
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- Chris Alvarez, Ol’ Gangsta, oil, 18 x 24.
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- Chris Alvarez, High Country Double Wide, oil, 36 x 48.
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- Chris Alvarez, Curious Cow, oil, 8 x 10.
Like most teachers, Alvarez sums up the vocation as a lifelong commitment to learning. “You can’t be an artist if you can’t handle ambiguity, and art, like life, often isn’t clear,” he says. “Through teaching, I understand things better, and I learn new things all the time. It’s a joyous experience.” —Beth Williams
representation
Leyba & Ingalls Arts, Silver City, NM; Orly’s Art Gallery, Colorado Springs, CO; Egeli Gallery, Provincetown, MA; www.alvarezschool.com.
This story appeared in the October/November 2022 issue of Southwest Art magazine.