Biography
Between cultures: The gaze of Enric Alfons
For Enric Alfons (Cullera, 1949 – Valencia, 2016) the beginnings of his painting can be traced back to his childhood at school where the only thing that escaped the tendency at the time to force children to write with their right was the freedom to draw with his left hand.
Some years later, completely sure of his vocation, he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts and throughout the 1970s he combined academic studies with an active creative practice.
In the late-70s, his work, which had initially followed two parallel paths—one geared towards the market to make a living, and the other responding to his political conscience—underwent a profound crisis, motivated by several reasons: affective, family, political disillusionment and a questioning of the Western political and social situation and the art market, in stark contrast with what he was beginning to discover in the Global South.
Enric Alfons was a member of the new generation of artists which emerged in the years of the transición, Spain’s transition to democracy following the death of Franco. As Boye Llorens contends that, at this unique moment, “the important thing was to stir emotions and consciences. In opposition to the coolness of the Social Realism which had been virtually held sway since the mid-seventies, focussing primarily on the objective meaning of painting, [they] sought greater emotional intensity in diverse and eclectic ways, more concerned with the spontaneity and sincerity of the subjective gaze.”[1] Or as the artist himself claimed, “if painting doesn’t arouse emotions then, to my way of thinking, it makes no sense.”[2]
His first visit to Morocco in 1980 set him out on a search for authenticity, shifting his gaze from the North (modernity/western bloc) to the South … And so, when he received the grant that went with the Alfons Roig Prize in 1981, its inaugural edition, he used it to live for two months in the medina of Fez, where he was able to complete the series Fetitxes andalusís (Andalusí Fetishes) which he had presented for the prize. “I feel an identification with the essence of the Arab world. I never get tired of painting Andalusí fetishes,” he said around this time.
This was true to the extent that, from then on, the Maghreb, the eastern Mediterranean and the western Balkans would feature in all his series, without exception —Fetitxes andalusís, Deessa Màscara, Malhafa, Espills d’un jardí and Gouttes d’or dans la ville, Dormir al Ras, Albaneses, Allá Lejos, Titelles, Entre comedores de harira, Epílogo: introspecciones[3]— even if they were focused on different subject matters and employed diverse styles and techniques (figurativism, neo-expressionism or synthetism), very often with women as the central leitmotiv.
His trips to Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Algeria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Paris and London, Albania, Macedonia (currently North Macedonia), Syria and Jordan proved to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration. They bore fruit in the paintings he undertook back in his studio as well as in the uniquely personal impressions he captured in situ on successions of small boards.
As he acquired deeper insights and understanding of the different cultures and the respective issues affecting each place, his engagement and commitment grew in parallel. This personal stance took shape decisively in the early-90s, when he rendered it in the series Dormir al Ras, exploring the dramatic situation of the cayucos crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and the exploitation of Maghrebi migrants.
This aspect was underscored by the poet and writer Estrella Correcher Julià (Estel Julià)[4] in the conclusions of the paper she read during the 13th Study Seminars of Cullera in 2017, dedicated to Enric Alfons, when she claimed that “Enric Alfons’s artistic discourse has been able to generate knowledge about the Other, as well as to convey its cultural system through his artistic practice. Revisiting his work today means revitalizing the sociological message it conveys.”
Another facet of Enric Alfons worth underscoring is his teaching practice, which he undertook since 1981 as a professor of drawing at the School of Fine Arts of Valencia in parallel with his artistic practice. He earned a PhD cum laude in 1987, for his dissertation “Sobre el Art Brut: las creaciones de Pepe de Valencia”, dedicated to Jean Dubuffet, once again centring the object of his research in what he believes to be the most authentic, in this case, the purest and most uncontaminated expression of the artistic drive.
As a teacher, he was widely respected and appreciated by his students for his kindness, his effective teaching and his strong commitment to nurturing each student’s full potential. His academic work kept him informed and up to date with contemporary artistic developments, while he continued to research passionately, as a devoted scholar, into the historical roots of art.
In this way he found the perfect fit that allowed him to live his life exactly as he wanted and enjoyed, without the need to subject himself to the changing canons imposed by the market, undertaking his labour as a teacher and as a painter with vocation. Both “professions” were permeable to each other insofar as each one proved to be a rewarding experience in its own right as well as serving as feedback for the other.
Throughout his career he won many prizes and scholarships, exhibited in several major and highly appreciated solo and group shows, and his work is included in the collections of various museums and public institutions.
His discourse, underpinned by critique and social commitment, is increasingly more germane. The “narcotization of our Western society,” as Estel Julià put it in her paper, and “the lack of solidarity at the gateway to our uncivilized Europe,” in the words of the writer and journalist Abelardo Muñoz,[5] are more and more untenable all the time. This is why all forms of expressions and awareness-raising, including art and culture, that lend visibility to the many human tragedies unfolding across the world are so absolutely essential. Many of these are rooted in conflict, glaring injustices and climate emergencies, and call for the defence of values such as humanity and solidarity.
[1] Boye Llorens Peters, essay by the curator of the exhibition “Enric Alfons. Viajar, conocer, pintar”, in the catalogue published for the occasion by the Town Council of Cullera, 2018.
[2] María Ángeles Arazo, interview with Enric Alfons in Las Provincias, 2 November 1989.
[3] This final title (Epilogue: Introspections) was assigned following a deeper study of his work after his death.
[4] Estel Julià discovered and took an interest in the artist’s work from 2010 onwards, producing several studies on his artistic practice, which were presented in the 4th and 5th editions of the Seminar on Transversal Studies, organized by GET (Transversal Studies Group) at the University of Alicante. Further details of these works can be found in the ‘References’ section.
[5] Abelardo Muñoz: “Enric Alfons. Viajar, conocer, pintar,” in the exhibition catalogue published by the Town Council of Cullera, 2018.
Some years later, completely sure of his vocation, he enrolled at the School of Fine Arts and throughout the 1970s he combined academic studies with an active creative practice.
In the late-70s, his work, which had initially followed two parallel paths—one geared towards the market to make a living, and the other responding to his political conscience—underwent a profound crisis, motivated by several reasons: affective, family, political disillusionment and a questioning of the Western political and social situation and the art market, in stark contrast with what he was beginning to discover in the Global South.
Enric Alfons was a member of the new generation of artists which emerged in the years of the transición, Spain’s transition to democracy following the death of Franco. As Boye Llorens contends that, at this unique moment, “the important thing was to stir emotions and consciences. In opposition to the coolness of the Social Realism which had been virtually held sway since the mid-seventies, focussing primarily on the objective meaning of painting, [they] sought greater emotional intensity in diverse and eclectic ways, more concerned with the spontaneity and sincerity of the subjective gaze.”[1] Or as the artist himself claimed, “if painting doesn’t arouse emotions then, to my way of thinking, it makes no sense.”[2]
His first visit to Morocco in 1980 set him out on a search for authenticity, shifting his gaze from the North (modernity/western bloc) to the South … And so, when he received the grant that went with the Alfons Roig Prize in 1981, its inaugural edition, he used it to live for two months in the medina of Fez, where he was able to complete the series Fetitxes andalusís (Andalusí Fetishes) which he had presented for the prize. “I feel an identification with the essence of the Arab world. I never get tired of painting Andalusí fetishes,” he said around this time.
This was true to the extent that, from then on, the Maghreb, the eastern Mediterranean and the western Balkans would feature in all his series, without exception —Fetitxes andalusís, Deessa Màscara, Malhafa, Espills d’un jardí and Gouttes d’or dans la ville, Dormir al Ras, Albaneses, Allá Lejos, Titelles, Entre comedores de harira, Epílogo: introspecciones[3]— even if they were focused on different subject matters and employed diverse styles and techniques (figurativism, neo-expressionism or synthetism), very often with women as the central leitmotiv.
His trips to Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Algeria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Paris and London, Albania, Macedonia (currently North Macedonia), Syria and Jordan proved to be an inexhaustible source of inspiration. They bore fruit in the paintings he undertook back in his studio as well as in the uniquely personal impressions he captured in situ on successions of small boards.
As he acquired deeper insights and understanding of the different cultures and the respective issues affecting each place, his engagement and commitment grew in parallel. This personal stance took shape decisively in the early-90s, when he rendered it in the series Dormir al Ras, exploring the dramatic situation of the cayucos crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and the exploitation of Maghrebi migrants.
This aspect was underscored by the poet and writer Estrella Correcher Julià (Estel Julià)[4] in the conclusions of the paper she read during the 13th Study Seminars of Cullera in 2017, dedicated to Enric Alfons, when she claimed that “Enric Alfons’s artistic discourse has been able to generate knowledge about the Other, as well as to convey its cultural system through his artistic practice. Revisiting his work today means revitalizing the sociological message it conveys.”
Another facet of Enric Alfons worth underscoring is his teaching practice, which he undertook since 1981 as a professor of drawing at the School of Fine Arts of Valencia in parallel with his artistic practice. He earned a PhD cum laude in 1987, for his dissertation “Sobre el Art Brut: las creaciones de Pepe de Valencia”, dedicated to Jean Dubuffet, once again centring the object of his research in what he believes to be the most authentic, in this case, the purest and most uncontaminated expression of the artistic drive.
As a teacher, he was widely respected and appreciated by his students for his kindness, his effective teaching and his strong commitment to nurturing each student’s full potential. His academic work kept him informed and up to date with contemporary artistic developments, while he continued to research passionately, as a devoted scholar, into the historical roots of art.
In this way he found the perfect fit that allowed him to live his life exactly as he wanted and enjoyed, without the need to subject himself to the changing canons imposed by the market, undertaking his labour as a teacher and as a painter with vocation. Both “professions” were permeable to each other insofar as each one proved to be a rewarding experience in its own right as well as serving as feedback for the other.
Throughout his career he won many prizes and scholarships, exhibited in several major and highly appreciated solo and group shows, and his work is included in the collections of various museums and public institutions.
His discourse, underpinned by critique and social commitment, is increasingly more germane. The “narcotization of our Western society,” as Estel Julià put it in her paper, and “the lack of solidarity at the gateway to our uncivilized Europe,” in the words of the writer and journalist Abelardo Muñoz,[5] are more and more untenable all the time. This is why all forms of expressions and awareness-raising, including art and culture, that lend visibility to the many human tragedies unfolding across the world are so absolutely essential. Many of these are rooted in conflict, glaring injustices and climate emergencies, and call for the defence of values such as humanity and solidarity.
[1] Boye Llorens Peters, essay by the curator of the exhibition “Enric Alfons. Viajar, conocer, pintar”, in the catalogue published for the occasion by the Town Council of Cullera, 2018.
[2] María Ángeles Arazo, interview with Enric Alfons in Las Provincias, 2 November 1989.
[3] This final title (Epilogue: Introspections) was assigned following a deeper study of his work after his death.
[4] Estel Julià discovered and took an interest in the artist’s work from 2010 onwards, producing several studies on his artistic practice, which were presented in the 4th and 5th editions of the Seminar on Transversal Studies, organized by GET (Transversal Studies Group) at the University of Alicante. Further details of these works can be found in the ‘References’ section.
[5] Abelardo Muñoz: “Enric Alfons. Viajar, conocer, pintar,” in the exhibition catalogue published by the Town Council of Cullera, 2018.
