Lisa Alvarado

Lisa Alvarado (born 1982) is an American visual artist and harmonium player.[1][2]

Lisa Alvarado (2018) in Aarhus, Denmark

Alvarado is known for her free-hanging abstract paintings.[3] Her works operate as stage sets and artworks simultaneously, and engage with abstraction beyond the parameters of western art history.[4] Alvarado's paintings accompany musical performances as mobile setting for the band Natural Information Society, for which she plays harmonium.[5]

Early life and education

Alvarado was born in San Antonio, Texas to a Mexican American family.[6][7] She studied at San Antonio College and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.[7] Alvarado joined the Natural Information Society in 2010.[8][9]

Artistic practice

Alvarado's practice bridges visual art and sound to create works that explore the possibilities and nuances of abstraction.[4][10]

She began making her free-hanging works in 2010, as portable sets for the band Natural Information Society, an experimental ensemble of traditional and electronic instruments.[11] Her two-sided works float between categories—they are at once paintings, screens and tapestries that create airy partitions, delineating pathways, evoking both theatrical and ceremonial uses.[11][12][13]

Alvarado's hand-painted compositions consist of sequences that suggest foundational real-world materials: bricks, religious icons, single-celled organisms, the organic systems covering the natural information of life—things of which history and culture are formed.[12][14]

Alvarado's works recall a number of traditions, among them Mexican textiles and European and American Modernist painting, however they build on those sources to become something of their own.[10] Hybridity and in-betweenness are central to Alvarado's practice.[10] Her work calls attention to the idea of mestizaje, which refers to the cultural and ethnic mixing in Mexican history, and is expanded to mean a mixing of ideas and materials as a way to resist or bridge cultural and conceptual divides.[15]

Exhibitions and performances

Alvarado's work is included in the Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It's Kept, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.[1]

She has also exhibited her work at the Bergen Kunsthall, Norway; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Bridget Donahue, New York; The Modern Institute, Glasgow; KMAC Museum, Louisville. [16][17]

Selected performances include Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Pitchfork Music Festival, Chicago; Big Ears Music Festival, Knoxville; Rewire Festival, Netherlands; Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; Japan Society, New York; The Common Guild, Glasgow; Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Portugal.[18][19]

Alvarado is represented by Bridget Donahue in New York.[20]

Discography

with Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society

References
  1. Cotter, Holland (May 31, 2022). "A Whitney Biennial of Shadow and Light". The New York Times.
  2. Beckwith, Naomi and Roelstraete, Dieter (2015). "The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now". p. 40. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and University Of Chicago Press.
  3. Fateman, Johanna (November 1, 2020). "Lisa Alvarado". Artforum International Magazine. Vol. 59, no. 2.
  4. Kopel, Dana (2 May 2017). "Vibrational Aesthetics: Lisa Alvarado" Mousse Magazine.
  5. Cotter, Holland (27 April 2017). "10 Galleries to Visit Now on the Lower East Side". The New York Times.
  6. Lopez, Mia (2018). Out of Easy Reach. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 978-0-9850960-6-9.
  7. Beta, Andy (April 22, 2021). "Rooted in Her San Antonio Childhood, Lisa Alvarado's Art Transports and Transforms". Texas Monthly.
  8. Glenn, Allison (2016). "Derrick Adams: ON, Transmission and Interruptions", p.3. Pioneer Works Press, New York.
  9. Alvarado, Lisa (March 2019). "The Inner Sleeve". The Wire UK. 421: 73.
  10. STEINHAUER, JILLIAN (19 August 2020). "3 Art Gallery Shows to See Right Now". The New York Times.
  11. The New Yorker (1 May 2017). "Lisa Alvarado". The New Yorker.
  12. Bucciero, Joe (1 May 2017). "Lisa Alvarado: Sound Talisman", The Brooklyn Rail.
  13. Saltz, Jerry (16 April 2017). "To Do: April 19-May 3, 2017". New York Magazine.
  14. Spicer, Daniel (September 1, 2019). "Joshua Abrams & Natural Information Society". The Wire- Adventures in Sound and Music. 80.
  15. Trouillot, Terence (27 July 2020). "New York roundup". E-FLUX, ART AGENDA.
  16. SCHEPER, MORITZ (6 November 2018). "Lisa Alvarado's Paintings Activate the Canvas as Body". Frieze (200).
  17. Reichert, Elliot (20 March 2015). "Imaginary Landscapes/Mana Contemporary". New City, Chicago.
  18. Russonello, Giovanni (20 April 2017). "Pop, Rock and Jazz in NYC This Week". The New York Times.
  19. Coiro, Alec (17 May 2017). "Sound Activated Art by Lisa Alvarado". Ravelin Magazine.
  20. HEINRICH, WILL (2 May 2019). "At Frieze New York, Islands of Daring". The New York Times.
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