Paradiso D’oro

William Alvarez Jr.‘s 1st Solo Exhibit

October 29 to November 8, 2020

Galleria Nicolas
3rd floor Art Space, Glorietta 4
Ayala Center, Makati

“For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.”

1 Kings 10:22

Paradiso means : heaven , the place where God or the gods live, and where good people go when they die, paradise a place or state of great happiness

D’ oro means: golden, wonderful, priceless

Peacock means: Vision, Self Expression, Spirituality, Awakening, Integrity, Freedom, Guidance, Protection, & Watchfulness.

William Alvarez’s “Paradiso D’oro” captures the unique personalities of birds in his latest series of oil and gold leaf paintings. Alvarez uses a variety of brushstrokes and textures to portray their whimsical and enigmatic characters.

For centuries, birds have provided endless inspirations for artists, exuding the kind of grace, mystery, and spontaneity that can only be found in the natural world. Alvarez imbues each subject with kinetic life by paying special attention to their unique colors—most importantly—the feathers.

Primarily working in oils, Alvarez has created detailed paintings with metal leaf detail. The artist instills his fauna work with personal symbolic meaning, representative of emotions experienced by the artist. His use of gold metal leaf is associated with notions of divinity, referring back to spiritual enlightenment experienced by audiences of High Renaissance art.

The artist firmly believes that an ecosystem is riot just a composition of numerous individual lives and species, but a living entity itself; an interconnected and interdependent web of life.

The fundamental goal of “Paradiso D’oro” is for the viewer to come away with a greater respect and appreciation for these majestic creatures, their toughness behind the beauty, and the imminent threat they experience in the wild.