The Fresno City College Art Space Gallery held a collaborative exhibition on Oct.2, showcasing artist Michael Alvarez’s paintings alongside photography and site-specific sculptures created by Tomàs T. Diaz.
The art reflects the Los Angeles skate spots, cityscape and the community living around El Segundo.
The gallery will be open until Oct. 30. It is open from Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Alvarez first started making art when he was a kid, starting with small sketches about his interest in skateboarding and subcultural art. Alvarez, who first attended Pasadena City College and then received his BFA from Art Center College and Design, had a spark for creating art about his life and the experiences around him.
Alvarez was able to meet more artists who have the same lineage as him, and this made him want to keep going in this direction.
“I find commonality in talking about the experiences and the environment. In school and in contemporary art, I didn’t get to see much work or even media in relation to the world I was experiencing,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez explained that the “Vincent” sculpture was one of his first pieces he shared as an indirect reference to his actual life. The piece was made back in 2007, his last year of high school. He shared that it was an homage made for a family member who was incarcerated at the time.
“He is a little character in a crate, looking as if he’s behind bars,” Alvarez said.
It wasn’t until four years ago that Alvarez started to get more people looking into his art pieces, and being able to learn the background of his art.
“I feel like I was starting to get out there, and my art started getting more acknowledgement and inclusion within larger spaces and institutional spaces, so it’s still a new thing that I am experiencing and getting accustomed to, and I’m extremely grateful,” Alvarez said.
He also described this experience as a “new phenomenon.” Though Alvarez gets to work full-time as an artist, he reminds himself that he also started as an art educator for over a decade, and is continuing to navigate this wave as it comes.
Alvarez gave props to Pasadena City College and stated that he learned the most from attending school there growing up.
“I went to Pasadena City College for three years, and it was extremely pivotal. I feel like that’s where I really learned about the different types of Art practices and disciplines, and it introduced me to so much I didn’t know about,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez stated that these past four years have been taking each experience for what it is, and realizing sometimes you have to pivot or move towards a different direction. He wants to continue showing his art, which is often personal, connecting to what’s around him in his life. He also plans to continue educating and helping his students in alternative education high schools and non-profit education schools.
“I taught my first college class this year after taking a three-year break from teaching. It was the first quarter at UCLA undergrad for a beginning painting class, which was an honor and surprise, especially since I never attended there,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez also shared that he spent hours experimenting and learning certain foundations within that college community. He also loves learning about his students’ experiences and thoughts, and said it helped strengthen his own experience.
Alvarez stated that he also wants to continue working with art programs in juvenile facilities. The Alliance for California Traditional Arts is one program based in Fresno, where Alvarez said he worked with a sector called Arts and Corrections.
“ACTA does a lot within the community for all ages, but I worked with Arts and Corrections up and down the Coast, and worked with them during the Pandemic,” he said.
Alvarez was not able to work with them in person due to the safety policies in place during the pandemic, but was still able to conduct screenings instead.
In the future, Alvarez plans on continuing to teach and doing “a little bit of everything” for colleges, correctional spaces and the communities around him.
