ARTIST Alkalart

“In my art any resemblance to reality is pure coincidence”

Alkalart is a Crawford College of Art graduate with a background in Design. The symbiosis between Art and Design is present in his work. Principles of design act as foundations while elements of art are pushing the boundaries of the painting. Alkalart playfully blurs the lines between art and design, surrealism and abstraction, the sublime and the absurd.

Following the famous quote: “It’s an artist’s right to rebel against the world’s stupidity” Alkalart shows us contrasting forces that meet and take place with vibrant colours, colliding each other splashing a sarcastic view on the seriousness of life.

Like a sirocco, his work allegorically intends to mix sand and rain to create a ruby drizzle causing contradiction about society and existentialism.

Alkalart is the artistic name of Roberto Alcala Garcia. Born in Madrid, Spain. His fascination for visual communication led him to work in Design and Advertising in Madrid. Thereafter, following his passion for Art he decided to move to Cork, Ireland and study Fine Art at Crawford College of Art and Design. He’s been working both as a Graphic Designer and an Art teacher in Cork ever since.

That combination of Art and Design is visible in the style of Alkalart. The use of bright colours is catching the eye of the viewer while a backdrop of patterns and shapes evolve the subject.

His work plays with the ironies of life and society. A statement or situation where the meaning is contradicted by the appearance or presentation of the idea. He addresses the confusion of living in today’s world through a creative way. Sometimes his paintings stages a narrative, glimpses of what we call life.

Alkalart - Nua Collective - Artist - Sketch

Alkalart - Nua Collective - Artist - Sketch - Desire

His paintings have a tendency to disorientate viewers, even when they depict recognisable imagery.

Picasso once said: “All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up” Alkalart allows that inner child with a freedom for expression to communicate feelings, explores shape and colour, creates ideas in an open-ended space to explore.

Alkalart’s influences come from memory and experiences. Like a touch on an cold ceramic tile under the scorching sun and the sirocco wind. His artwork allegorically intends to mix sand and rain to create a ruby drizzle causing contradiction about society and existentialism.

In his paintings there is a strive to balance conflicting forces like hot and cold colours, lines and texture, situations and imagination. Sometimes the narrative of this painting creates a nonsensical but somehow believable collage of parallel realities open to the viewer’s interpretation.

Alkalart_Ted-House2_Acrylic-and-oils-on-canvas_25x25cm

Since I was a child, I have been always fascinated by the use of visual communication to represent facets of society. That attraction led me to work in Design and advertising in Madrid. Later, my quest and exploration of artistic freedom brought me to study Fine Art at Crawford College in Cork, Ireland.

Painting and making Art give the opportunity to explore myself and the world using my own palette and colours. My art grows from memory, experience and reflection. From my early memories of playing around my grandparents’ house touching the old ceramic tiles feeling the coldness of its surface and the intricate of its design or going outside to play under a scorching sun and a warm wind. The experience of growing in an everchanging society amid the chaos and rationality of everyday living is sometimes a subject of my work.

Through my art I address the seriousness of life with a sarcastic eye and some sense of humour.

I like to think of my paintings like a sirocco, a warm wind that mix sand and rain to create a ruby drizzle causing contradiction about society and existentialism. I strive to achieve the balance of conflicting forces, contrasting colours and situations. in the process I tend to create a nonsensical collage of parallel realities open to the viewer’s interpretation. I approach painting in an planed rational manner but always allowing my inner child to play and explore with subtle feelings, thoughts and imagination.