Norma Alonzo

Life is complicated. We are constantly integrating the push and pull of life. The hardships, the joy, the day to day events that make up our world. Whether it is the experience of our families, good or bad, or the tragedies or concerns of events on a global platform. Painting for me is an exploration and expression of the feeling, and perhaps the understanding of our state of being. It is a deeply personal intuitive expression of living in these times. My paintings reflect this push and pull, back and forth between opposites. This tension and energy accompany hope, balance, and peace through structure, space, and color. It is not always the goal but as in life, we can find moments of balance and connection to our true selves. Painting allows me to enter and explore my inner world of feelings, consciousness, and reason. I hope my paintings continue to evolve from a deeper place, communicating our shared experience of living.

Norma Alonzo has been painting for over 25 years. Beginning as a landscape painter, she quickly transitioned to an immersion in all genres to experiment and learn. Initially, Alonzo was torn between professions - the arts or a career in architecture. She chose the arts, graduating from San Jose State University in San Jose, California with a degree in Interior Design. After working in this field and ultimately heading her own design firm, her focus turned to the creation of fine art. Under the mentorship of Richard Lees (artist and art historian of Pasadena, California), Alonzo was encouraged toward honesty in her painting without judgment, without expectation, and without the confines of outside demanding interests. Through her paintings, Alonzo examines our place, metaphysically and functionally, in the midst of today’s fast-paced world. For Alonzo, it has been a time of painting dangerously. Experimentation with the formal elements of line, form, mass, and texture is now in play. More importantly, the guiding principle is fearlessness in the use of color and space. Of her current work, Alonzo states, “Abstract painting has pushed its way into everything I have done. I am forever manipulating line, color, and shape into something more. For many years I have been playing, experimenting, and learning what the different mediums can do.

2-D, Painting (all materials)