Alejandro Caiazza

Alejandro Caiazza’s paintings often portray a humorous subject matter that rests on a dark palette and foundation, engaging the viewer in the silliness of the present with a warning of what is to come. Initially appearing whimsical and delightful with a child-like innocence, the work of Caiazza on closer inspection reveals much deeper and darker aspects of our human condition: drawing on inspiration from daily life and emotions, the uncertainty of social upheavals, and political strife. The figures and characters that inhabit his Clown City are often deformed and absurd. With what could be construed as a sense of cruelty, still, they put on their smiles. Perhaps the smiles across their faces are merely a facade to hide from the reality of their surroundings. With all that is happening in the world today, the war in Ukraine, political theater generating social instability, and uncontrolled wealth inequality, Alejandro Caiazza’s paintings generate a place of vision where the spectrum between light and dark mirrors the world in which we live.

Alejandro Caiazza, born in 1972 in Santa Fé, Argentina, was raised in Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela. He trained in architecture and fine arts at the Jose Maria Vargas University in Caracas and had his first one-man exhibition at the “Sala de Arte de Sidor” in Ciudad Guayana in 1999. Caiazza moved to Paris in 2000 and lived there for ten years, studying at L’École Supérieure Des Beaux-Arts under his mentor, Ouanes Amor. He exhibited at the Lavatoio Contumatiale in Rome in 2010 and currently works and resides in New York City. His style is “art brut” or “neo-expressionism,” with influences such as Jean Dubuffet, Jonathan Meese, Georg Baselitz, William de Kooning, Jean Michel Basquiat, and A.R. Penk. He creates whimsical and delightful paintings with a darker side, using acrylic, oil bar, charcoal, and spray paint, experimenting with mixed media on cardboard, canvas, and wood.