"Untitled", Charcoal and Acrylic on Paper

"Velez started his career as an artist by pursuing what he calls "the academic tradition" while studying at The School of Visual Arts in New York. But an encounter with the work of Bruce Nauman at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1994 irrevocably changed his outlook and drew him to conceptual art.

About this change in his work Velez says:

"Although, stylistically I have moved away from the traditional, I am still drawing from it. My present work strives to turn this tradition back in on itself by using the very materials and components associated with painting and drawing. By using these materials, that were integral to my conception of what an artist was, it simultaneously becomes an acknowledgement of my past as well as a farewell to the painter/artist role."

Velez works and shows at the Art Center in Miami. Contact Velez by email at alphonsovelez@hotmail.com