Alvaro Gomez: El Jardinero

This month at the National Gallery in the Museo de los Ninos, Sala VIII, we are proud to represent Alvaro in his first show at the museum. The show includes a series of magnificent acrylic paintings on canvas as well as wood block monoprints and a new series for monoprint screen prints (more info on this series to come). All of these works were created at Monte Azul in 2010 and represent his passion for color, flowers, water and nature.

The Opening Reception was on August 11, 2010 and was attended by art collectors, magazine and newspaper editors, photographers, artists, friends, and family to name but a few. The event was very successful and enjoyed by everyone. These are a few photos of those in attendance.

Alvaro is part of the Monte Azul family and has been since its inception in Costa Rica. Almost ten years ago when Carlos was running his art gallery in San Francisco, California, he did an internet search for Costa Rican artists. One of the artists that “popped up” was Alvaro Gomez Ulloa. Alvaro is from Cartago, the same city that Carlos’ family originates. Through emails, Carlos got to know more about Alvaro and his work which eventually lead to Carlos selling Alvaro’s work in California. At the time Alvaro was a professor at the University of Costa Rica teaching printmaking. Alvaro was trained in printmaking and is considered a master printmaker.

By the time Carlos and I made our first trip together to Costa Rica in July 2003, Alvaro had begun working with oils and acrylics on canvas. We met Alvaro in his home studio on that trip and immediately fell in love with his paintings. On the spot, we bought 2 prints and one of his first oils on plywood paintings.

Over the years, Alvaro has developed and refined his painting technique, always pushing his limits, ideas and techniques to create remarkable works whether in printmaking or painting. The new series of paintings are in El Jardinero series (The Gardener). Alvaro is truly a gardener (in fact, he actually uses a watering can on the canvas), developing, nurturing and growing his ideas and talents. Alvaro is an integral part of Monte Azul and we are very proud to have Alvaro as part of our family.

We are also looking forward to his next idea.

For more information on Alvaro and his recent series of works, got to:

http://www.monteazulcr.com/en/fineart

http://www.monteazulcr.com/en/fineart/representedartists/1/AlvaroGomez/