Artist Bio

I was born in Whittier, California and grew up in the greater Los Angeles and Inland Empire areas of southern California. Growing up, it never even crossed my mind that one could have a career in Fine Arts, although it was my earliest ambition to become a Disney animator (until I learned about the repetitiveness of the job).

Early Years

In class, I was so bored with school that I would always be drawing… after school, I would play outside with my friends. Growing up as one of the few “white” kids in the neighborhood gave me a perspective on life that not many of my color have. Most of my friends were black… and I also had a lot of black “enemies.” That’s right – I got to experience racism from the other side of the coin. Not only did my peers take a dislike to my skin color, but also authority figures – such as teachers and school administrators.

Many of my drawings were crumbled up by teachers in front of the entire classroom… Until I eventually stopped drawing for a few years.

A New Start

When I turned sixteen, my family and I moved from San Bernardino, California to North Dakota (hoping to avoid the crime and low quality of life we had become accustomed to). We only stayed about 9 months before settling in Tucson, Arizona… where life began to open up for me.

Going to college was a huge breakthrough for me! I grew up around lower middle-class folks… construction workers, etc. People who generally don’t read and aren’t very “book-smart.”

Now I’m a pretty smart guy, but I never applied myself in High School because I had no direction and no mentors. But I rekindled my passion for art at Pima Community College, got great grades, and went on to study art at the University of Arizona.

College Education

My first semester, a drawing teacher took us on a “tour” that included Alfred Quiroz’s painting class. That was when it “clicked” for me… painting is what I must do!

The only problem was I had never painted before… so I took elective courses with David Christiana, who taught me all the academic fundamentals that painters need to know. Of course, my earliest paintings were little more than exercises in learning how to paint… trying different techniques and styles.

I graduated Magna cum Laude in May of 2004 with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts degree. Since then, I have been honing my craft and developing my own style…

Now the way I figure, this wouldn’t be a proper “about” section if I didn’t give you a visual synopsis of my artistic journey, so that’s what I’m going to do…

A Visual Journey

One of my earliest artistic influences was Vincent van Gogh…

Of course, I immediately fell in love with his artistic style… the simplification of forms, the high contrast, the complementary colors, the rapid brushwork, I can go on and on!

But I also could relate to his story… his search for purpose, his awkward relationships, his passion and enthusiasm for life and nature. In fact, I relate to the guy so much that I’ve always felt like a kindred spirit… never more so than now, considering we both share a late start in the art world and lack of pedigree.

In that respect, I admire the work he put in to learn his craft and I suspect that’s how he came up with such an original, unique style… the fact that he was mostly “self-taught.”

I constantly study his drawings and paintings to this day and have made several copies and references to his works over the years. Here’s one of the first drawings I did in art school, after Van Gogh…

Inspired by van Gogh’s graphic work, I set out to draw my mom in black and white (I show you these because I consider these drawings some of my finest work to date. This is when I’m at my best, with quick gestural work that captures forms without over-analyzing things.)…

Derek Alvarez, Portrait of my mom done in art school, 24" x 20" (2001)	Derek Alvarez, Portrait of my mom done in art school, 24" x 20" (2001)	Derek Alvarez, Portrait of my mom done in art school, 24" x 20" (2001)

Out of art school, I worked odd jobs and odd hours to support my painting “habit.”

Converting my bedroom into an art studio, I was really getting into the idea of combining painting and sculpture, so I started adding plaster, glue, canvas, tile, cardboard, and who knows what else to create my “sculpture paintings”…

Derek Alvarez, Easter Trip to Willcox, 36" x 28" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, Remembrance of North Dakota, 22" x 30" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, Rodeo Bull and Pink Banana, 36" x 28" (2005)

By this time, I was heavily influenced by the figurative works of Egon Schiele (although his landscapes would later have an equal impact on my art)…

His use of negative space and expressionistic use of paint (through color and brushstrokes) are what appealed to me most.

So I set out to paint my friends and family members using some of his techniques (maybe you’ll be able to see some of his influence on my work in the examples below)…

Derek Alvarez, Self-portrait (Posing), 24" x 20" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, "My Grandpa Silva Met Pancho Villa," 24" x 20" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, My brother Danny (The Orange Eater), 24" x 20" (2005)

Looking back, these “paint sculptures” were some of my best work… both artistically and commercially (I sold most of them).

Nevertheless, I decided to try something different (acrylic on canvas) for several reasons…

• My bedroom “studio” lacked sufficient ventilation and the paint fumes were getting to me.
• I was getting impatient with the drying times of my thick application of oil paint.
• I was hearing complaints about the cost and hassle to ship my heavy paintings from gallery owners.
• I wanted to paint bigger (God only knows why! I guess I thought my paintings would be more “impressive” ;)
• I was getting tired of getting rejected by the Arizona Biennial, so I decided to make fun of all the “ironic” and conceptual art all the academics seem to love.

Now, I’m not going to tell you I didn’t paint anything good during this period… but I can’t sit here and tell you these paintings were my best work!

Below are some of my better examples from this period, all painted with acrylic, crayon, house paint, and marker on canvas (clearly, I was heavily influenced by Roy Lichtenstein)…

Derek Alvarez, Regime Change, 36" x 28" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, There is No Trip to the Wizard in Their Future, 28" x 36" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, Damn Dirty Apes, 36" x 28" (2005)

Derek Alvarez, Self Portrait as a Monkey, 36" x 17" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, Indians, 21" x 36" (2005)	Derek Alvarez, National Treasure, 36" x 21" (2005)

But still figurative images managed to creep in to my work…

Derek Alvarez, Angelina Jolie, 55" x 36" (2006)	Derek Alvarez, Jessica Alba, 55" x 36" (2006)

…Until I got to the point that I felt like I needed to “challenge myself” by creating “abstract figurative” works.

The inspiration came partly from Cecily Brown, partly from Thomas Scheibitz… but I also wanted to see how “abstract” I could make something with it still being recognizable.

The question is, how interesting is this to anyone besides an artist?

After all, I don’t create art just for myself or other artists… I also would like the average “non-artsy” person to be able to appreciate it.

Why? I suppose it’s because I feel an obligation to reach out to the kind of people I grew up with… because I like those kinds of people! Unpretentious, common-sense, street smart, salt of the earth kinds of folks… people who could use more beauty and solace in their lives.

Anyway, I’ll let you be the judge of how successful the paintings are (as I’ve already indicated, I think they’re some of the worst paintings I’ve ever done)…

Derek Alvarez, Figure Study 1, 70" x 48" (2006)	Derek Alvarez, Figure Study (Woman and Mirror), 70" x 48" (2006)

Derek Alvarez, Figure Study 2, 70" x 48" (2006)	Derek Alvarez, Helicopter and Landscape, 60" x 48" (2006)

I also took the same approach to landscapes (the Burnt Forest painting actually hung in our bedroom for several years, so I guess you can say I like it ;)…

About this time, I also experimented with this pop style by creating collages…

To give you an idea of where I was coming from with these collages of flowers, I’ll show you two examples of flower paintings I had created after Van Gogh and Picasso in 2004…

Derek Alvarez, Sunflowers (after van Gogh), 36" x 28" (2004)	Derek Alvarez, Tomato Plant (after Picasso), 36" x 28" (2004)

Here are the two “pop” collage flower paintings…

Derek Alvarez, Untitled (Irises), 36" x 28" (2007)	Derek Alvarez, Untitled (Tulips), 36" x 26" (2007)

These last two paintings, done in 2007, were actually the last “paint on canvas” paintings I would do for a while…

I got married to my wonderful wife, Monique… got a job (as a landscape designer), nicer car, a house, yada yada…

(And moved out of my bedroom art studio.)

This, combined with working full-time, made it difficult to find the time and space to paint… so I started drawing more. (I would draw after I got home from work and on the weekends.)

At this point, I was still in love with creating collage-style art, so this carried over into my finished drawings…

The drawings were done on vellum, with pen and ink, and drawn on the front and back to create different gray and black tones…

Derek Alvarez, Garden with Sunflowers (after van Gogh), 11" x 8.5" (2007)	Derek Alvarez, Woman in Mirror 3, 11" x 8.5" (2008)	Derek Alvarez, Bathers, 11" x 8.5" (2008)

Derek Alvarez, Stormy Sky, 8.5" x 11" (2007)	Derek Alvarez, Landscape with Foothills, 8.5" x 11" (2007)
Derek Alvarez, Ship in Distress, 8.5" x 11" (2007)	Derek Alvarez, Landscape with Cows 2, 8.5" x 11" (2007)
Derek Alvarez, Sand Dunes, 8.5" x 11" (2007)	Derek Alvarez, Lizard Head Boulder, 8.5" x 11" (2007)

Still without a studio at this point and wanting to express myself through color, I decided to create some “digital paintings”…

Derek Alvarez, Burnt Forest, Digital Painting (2008)	Derek Alvarez, Landscape with Cows 3, Digital Painting (2009)
Derek Alvarez, Landscape with Cows 2, Digital Painting (2008)	Derek Alvarez, Desert Island, Digital Painting (2008)
Derek Alvarez, Stormy Sky, Digital Painting (2009)	Derek Alvarez, Landscape with Foothills, Digital Painting (2008)
Derek Alvarez, Lizard Head Boulder, Digital Painting (2009)	Derek Alvarez, Sand Dunes, Digital Painting (2008)
Derek Alvarez, Ships at Sea, Digital Painting (2008)	Derek Alvarez, Ship in Distress, Digital Painting (2009)

While I enjoyed doing them, I came to the conclusion that I’d rather not spend so much time on the computer…

Monique and I are simplifying our lives… we’ve moved overseas, we’ve ditched the house, the car, the television, the cellphones and many other trappings of contemporary society. So, not surprisingly, I’ve also simplified my art… I’m getting back to my roots and am now creating oil paintings on canvas, charcoal drawings, and crayon “paintings” … Enjoy!