Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandro Naranjo
Hi Alejandro, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I was born in Colombia, in the city of Medellín, which is the second largest city in the country, I studied Language Education and Visual Arts, I lived there for almost all my life, worked as a teacher and as a cultural promotor, and as a Visual Artist, I am married to my wife Ada Quintero. I started my passion for art as early as 5 years old, I preferred drawing to playing outside, and when I was eight years old I started taking art lessons, then when I finished high school I started thinking that art could be a path to continue with my life, I decided to take a course on graphic design, then I started teaching arts, and finally I did another course on Visual Arts, while I was exploring the world of the arts in y city and my country, I started working as a formal teacher and I went to University and did a Bachelor in teaching Languages, I continue working as a teacher, for many years. Then I finished my second degree, a degree in teaching Arts. In Medellín, Colombia, I started a cultural business with my wife Ada Quintero, we taught arts and developed strategies to promote my art locally and internationally. With these efforts I could take my art and the art of other Colombian artists to places like Hong Kong in 2004 and 2005, then Switzerland in 2009. After the experience in Switzerland I was invited by a South Korean artist called Minjoo Lee, to participate in several art shows in South Korea, I was not able to attend in person, but I was represented by my art there. Then in 2014 I traveled to Spain to show my work and that same year I had the opportunity to visit the United States for the first time, I started looking for international spaces to show my art, and I was accepted by an artist and curator in Sacramento CA called Robert ray, we worked planning for the show for a least one year, and finally I arrive with my works in a small box to Sacramento CA, on October 2014, that was my first international solo show. It was a wonderful experience, I sold some pieces and felt the welcoming people showed to my art. The I return to Colombia, and continue my normal life, teaching, working, painting, and so on. Last year I arrived in the United States again, as an Elementary School teacher, last year I was a Second Grade Bilingual teacher at an Elementary school, but this new school year I am going to be an Elementary Art teacher, which is making me very happy because I want to push further my involvement in the art work more and more, art in education is fundamental for the development of new minds and souls. I am exploring Houston, its parks, places, and museums, it has been a whole journey from where I was In Colombia, to this moment, and I am happy and eager to continue learning and being inspired by places, people, and life.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
All in life is like a roller coaster, and that is why life gives you this flavor, you need to learn that every day, nothing is easy but I think it is important to continue having your mind open, ready to accept, and eager to explore and experience. Fear can be present but you need to be able to control it. Being an artist is not easy, but most of it is when you do not have audiences to share and have a dialogue, there is no worse thing for an artist, not to have places to show your art. In my case education is also a way to learn, it is not easy all the time. But in the end, you can understand that without ups and downs, there is not a pleasant flavor when feel success.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a fine artist, I do abstract and non-figurative art, and I love using oils and drawing techniques, I explore life as a symbol, and as a metaphor to present it as a story, using art is a way to establish a spiritual connection with what we call reality, our minds and our souls. In my work, from its beginnings, it has been very important to try to reproduce sensations, taking memory and intuition as a starting point to create new scenes, loaded with lyricism and subjectivity, a mix of abstraction and figurative elements. I paint and draw directly, from a series, concern, or subject in the process, to make way for compositions charged with freedom and expressiveness. The life series is presented as a metaphor, symbolically evoking how life gives us many things and how sometimes it also stays with them.
I am proud of my work, which has been growing since I started painting so many years ago and proud of my dedication and passion for what I do.
I am going to use some words by a good friend about my artwork, his name is Diego Sierra:
The painting of Alejandro Naranjo, a weapon of bright colors that seduce internal sensations, archaeology of oblivion. Metaphors of memories not lived, heir to magical realism from his pictorial narratives, where some forms loaded with signifiers intersect as an indication of an action based on composition, architect of color with gesture. Expressionist in its brushstrokes, testimony to the invisible stories loaded with lyricism, where memory oozes impressions of subjectivity, protected in a poetic way from the texture, the play of lines and lights that impregnate the image of resplendent human figures, forming a dichotomy between being and its absence, melancholy made color, a place of reflection, an encounter with oneself.
What matters most to you? Why?
At this moment, the most important things are time, my family, the world in general, and the possibility of a better future for everyone, good food, good company, a walk, swimming, and painting. The why: Because time is all, family is that group of people you have to be, even if they are far away in some moments, the rest is what can make life a story to remember, the poetry of everyday life, walks can give this time to think feel your steps on the ground, feel that you have this power to be, to go and to feel.
Pricing:
- 300 USD Small paintings
- 1500 USD A medium size paintings
- 2000 USD B Semi-big size paintings
- 3000 USD A Large paintings
- 4000 USD B size paintings
Contact Info:
- Website: https://alejonaranjo.wixsite.com/alejandronaranjoart
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alejonaranjoart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alejonaranjopainting
- Other: https://alejonaranjo.wixsite.com/colibrisur
Image Credits
Credit for personal photos: Ada Quintero. Credits for the rest rest of the photos: Alejandro Naranjo.
