Amalia Angulo-Alvares (1980) - Study #1

"Study #1" is a work with electric visual impact, where Amalia Angulo-Alvares relinquishes color to concentrate all energy in a crude, violent, and unflinching grisaille. The piece is an exercise in pure psychological and volumetric tension.

THE ARTIST AND THE CONCEPTUAL CONTEXT OF “STUDY #1"
Amalia Angulo is a contemporary painter born in 1980 in Havana, Cuba. In 1994 she moved to the Dominican Republic, where she lived for 20 years and graduated from The Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design (La Romana, Dominican Republic), one of the Caribbean’s most prestigious visual arts institutions, historically affiliated with the renowned Parsons School of Design in New York.

In 2017 she relocated to the United States, where she has lived and worked since then, based in the Hudson Valley, New York.

Her trajectory enjoys solid projection in the international contemporary art market, especially in the New York, Los Angeles, and European markets, being represented in the official circuits of prestigious galleries—such as Keijsers Koning and Stellarhighway—and actively participating in reference international fairs in the sector such as CAN Art Fair Palma.

Her work has been exhibited internationally and is part of private collections in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.

Angulo has recently closed solo exhibitions at Stellar Highway in Brooklyn, New York; Sean Horton in New York, New York; and Hudson House in Hudson, New York, where she was also an artist-in-residence.

Other exhibitions include those at The Trophy Room LA, Los Angeles, California; Marvin Gardens & Best Western, Ridgewood, New York; Stellar Highway, Brooklyn, NY; The Hole, New York, NY; Keijsers Koning, Dallas, TX; Allouche Gallery, New York; Private Walls Gallery, Belgium; Better Go South, Germany; Tuesday to Friday, Spain; Galería Nader, Dominican Republic; and Casa de Teatro, Dominican Republic.
Angulo’s work is in private collections across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.

“STUDY #1": A carnal and expressionist force in miniature format.

This original and singular work, rare compared to her later creations, belongs to a stage in which Amalia Angulo painted nudes and highly graphic images as part of her exploration of human dynamics related to inadequacy.

• THE WORK AND ITS CREATIVE CONTEXT:
«Study #1» is an inaugural or reference piece that forms part of a stage of changes and research after settling in the United States in 2017. In this creative journey, Angulo crudely and unflinchingly confronts nudity and anatomical alteration as visual tools to delve into the complexity of human dynamics and deconstruct imposed notions of social perfection, bodily uprooting, and inadequacy.

• THE DRAWING AND THE GRISAILLE
Executed in oil on paper, it highlights its figurative expressionist cut of the nude and the bold use of grisaille—with light ochre hues in the contours and hair—and chiaroscuro. Angulo’s artistic practice prioritizes drawing; she sees her paintings as dimensions added to the lines conceived on paper.

• DISTORTION AND MONUMENTAL VOLUME:
Through an extreme and challenging low-angle shot, the artist distorts perspective, generating a deliberate and expressive distortion of anatomical proportions, emphasizing the monumental and corporeal volume of the torso and chest that seems to overflow the composition and lunge at the viewer.
The chest and torso erupt in the foreground with a massive, almost sculptural presence, dominating the space and reducing the head to a secondary plane, breaking with any academicism to reveal the truth of the flesh.

The work has its own identity: sexualized bodily forms and a stylized face with exaggerated features reminiscent of dolls, a result of the artist’s fondness for body horror films and dystopian novels.

• THE FACE
The face is the nucleus of dramatic tension. Far from any passivity, the figure fixes the viewer with its sharp, defiant eye, while the other eye is buried under the hair. The mouth, open in a rigid, exclamatory gesture exposing the teeth, shakes the entire composition and gives the piece a psychological charge and raw dramatic tension, aligned with the currents of contemporary figurative realism.
Angulo’s subjects consistently confront us with unsettling gazes—eyes wide open and rigid smiles—that suggest something disturbing hidden behind every grimace.

• CONTRAST AND MATTER:
The hair, treated in bright, sharp tufts, falls under gravity to the sides of the face, framing the scene and cropping the face against a dark, dense, claustrophobic background. The pronounced texture of the support adds a tactile, almost organic layer, making Angulo’s brushwork feel alive, vibrant, and rough.
The treatment of light highlights the material texture of the brushstrokes on the skin, creating a strong contrast with the dark, neutral background to concentrate all illumination and volumetric modeling on the body.

• THE REVERSE
The back functions as a catalog panel handwritten by the painter herself. In addition to the work’s differential value and collectible uniqueness, its reverse is completely handwritten by the author, and reads: «Study #1 / Amalia Angulo-Alvares / 2017 / oil/paper».

DIMENSIONS
• Format: Miniature: 15.5 x 15.5 cm.

AUTHENTICITY
The authenticity of the work is safeguarded by a double verification factor guaranteeing authorship and provenance
1. Physical evidence: The original handwritten signature on the front and the full signature extended on the back under the identity "Amalia Angulo-Alvares", corresponding to the registry name used by the painter during that period.
2. Verification by the author herself: correspondence directly with the artist on October 26, 2026, in which the artist inspected the images of this piece (front and back) and issued an explicit authenticity statement: «I verify and confirm that this work is original and created by me in my studio as part of a series of works I developed approximately from 2015 to 2018-2019». This document supports the legal and historical provenance of the work.

CONDITION
Excellent condition, ready for immediate framing and exhibition. The oil paint layer is stable, cohesive, and fixed on the paper, maintaining the structural integrity of the paper support, its textures, and the liveliness of the original pigments. The edges of the piece show the limits of the support with slight marks and technical wear typical of the artist’s process.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:
• Shipped flat and unframed, carefully wrapped in glassine paper and protected in a rigid mailer to ensure safe delivery.
• The photographs are part of the description.
• The final measurements and weight indicated correspond to a secure packaging configuration, indispensable to ensure proper protection of the work during transport.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT AMALIA ANGULO
Academic Background:
- Trained in Fine Arts and Illustration at The Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design (La Romana, Dominican Republic), one of the Caribbean’s most prestigious visual arts institutions, historically affiliated with the renowned Parsons School of Design in New York.
- Artist-in-Residence: Selected for the institutional artist-residency program at Hudson House (Hudson, New York), during which she developed complete series of drawing and technical painting that culminated in her self-titled solo shows.

Selected Notable Exhibitions and Fairs
Solo Exhibitions
- «Sweethearts» — The Trophy Room LA, Los Angeles, California, USA (2024).
- «Happy» — Hudson House, Hudson, New York, USA.
- «Super Happy» — Debut Solo Exhibition, Sean Horton (Presents), New York, NY, USA.
- «Solo Show» — Stellarhighway, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
- «Solo Show» — Kishka Gallery, White River Junction, Vermont, USA.
- «Individual Exhibition» — Galería Nader, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
- «Individual Exhibition» — Casa de Teatro, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

Selected Group Shows and Gallery Exhibitions
- «Modern Rituals Exhibition» — Contemporary Collective Show (2026).
- «Group Show» — Keijsers Koning, New York / Los Angeles, USA (Formal representation on Artsy platform).
- «Group Show» — The Hole, New York, NY, USA.
- «Group Show» — Smack Gallery, Lille, France.
- «Group Show» — Private Walls Gallery, Knokke-Zoute, Belgium.
- «Group Show» — Tuesday to Friday Gallery, Valencia, Spain.
- «Group Show» — Marvin Gardens & Best Western, Ridgewood, New York, USA.

Participation in International Art Fairs
- CAN Art Fair (Contemporary Art Now) — Represented with formal exhibition of work in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
- Active participation in contemporary art fairs in key US markets (independent circuits in New York and Los Angeles).