Alejandro Caiazza
Ride the Tiger
Mixed media on Paper
24" x 18"
2024
About
With a truly international background, Alejandro Caiazza (b. 1972) is a well-traveled mixed-media artist with an abundance of experience in life and emotion. Caiazza was born in Santa Fe, Argentina, although his family soon transplanted to Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, where he was raised for the rest of his childhood and teenage epochs. The artist studied in Caracas, Venezuela, where he received a BFA in Architecture and Fine Arts at the Jose Maria Vargas University. After spending most of his life in Venezuela, Caiazza immigrated to Paris in 2000 to continue working as a professional artist. It is here that he studied at the reputable L’Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts and attended courses taught by his teacher and mentor, Ouanes Amor. Today, Caiazza is living and working in New York City.
By 2010, Caiazza developed a distinguishable and universal language in his work, which he describes as mixing various traces, signs, figures, and colors. He transforms and melds these together to communicate common, recognizable feelings and sensations. Frequently working with the emotion of anguish, at first glance his mixed-media artworks appear whimsical and delighting, yet soon open up to a deeper and darker prism. The artist discloses elementary images through the use of figuration and a soft yet contrasting color palette. Along with the use of thin lines and extensive layering, the images are often inflicted with a sense of knowledge that is usually reserved for adults. With eyes and faces full of expression and sometimes grotesqueness, Caiazza imposes cruelty and criticality onto his subjects. Agitators to authority, free dissenters living lives of low responsibility, forever children – these are his people.
Caiazza’s style is categorized as brut and neo-expressionist. His prevailing mediums include acrylic paint, bar oil, charcoal, and spray paint on surfaces such as cardboard, canvas, and wood. His noted influences are Jean Dubuffet, Jonathan Meese, Georg Baselitz, William de Kooning, Jean Michel Basquiat, and A.R. Penk. He has shown at galleries in Venezuela, France, Italy, Japan, and the United States for over 20 years.
His work is held in numerous private collections around the world, as well as in several prestigious public institutions, including La Fondazione Filiberto e Bianca Menna – Centro Studi d’Arte Contemporanea (Rome, Italy), Tanaka Isson Memorial Museum of Art (Amami Oshima, Japan), Sala de Arte de Sidor (Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela), and the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland moCa (Cleveland, Ohio, USA). Caiazza's first solo exhibition was in 1999 at the Sala De Arte de Sidor in Venezuela. Since then, his work has been exhibited internationally in cities such as Paris, Yokohama, Rome, Houston, and New York City.
CV
Solo Exhibitions: 2023, “Clown City”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2018, “Crazy Like Fox”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2017, “Diver-City”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2012, “Anatomía del Sentimento”, Lavatoio Contumaciale Gallery, Rome, Italy 2011, “Ritmi di Colori”, Lavatoio Contumaciale Gallery, Rome, Italy 2010, “Variations”, Lavatoio Contumaciale Gallery, Rome, Italy 2008, “Paradoxe”, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France 1999, “Pinturas Negras (Black Paintings)”, Sala de Arte de Sidor, Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela Duo Exhibitions: 2025, “Fun House”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2012, “Zozios”, C’est Pointe Gallery, Paris, France 2007, “Peintures”, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France Group Exhibitions: 2025, “Crossing Borders”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2025, “Heartbeats from the South”, William V. Musto Cultural Center, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA 2025, “Crossing Paths”, Usagi NY Gallery, Dumbo, Brooklyn, New York, USA 2025, “Fresh Pulp (Art on Paper)”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2024, “Neo-Expressionism With a Hint of Abstract”, Winston Scott Gallery, Warwick, New York, USA 2024, “1000 Faces”, Bay 200 Gallery at The Silos at Sawyer Yards, Houston, Texas, USA 2023, “LES Winterfest”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2022, “Facing Forward”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2021, “Graffiti vs Street Art”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2018, “Art Brute – Urban Five”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2014, “Creativebloch Collective Show”, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York City, USA 2014, “La Grande Illusione / The Great Illusion”, Temple University Rome Gallery of Art, Rome, Italy 2011, “The Group”, Montrose Art Society Gallery, Houston, Texas, USA 2009, “Black, White and Grey Silkscreen Series”, Studio Œil de Lynx, Paris, France 2009, “La Tour de Babel”, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France 2009, “EnamorARTE”, Gran Salón Intercontinental, Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela 2008, “Bienal 64 Salon Arturo Michelena”, Centro Cultural Eladio Alemán Sucre, Valencia, Venezuela 2008, “Primera Bienal Internacional de Pequeño Formato”, Casa de los Arcos Gallery, Maracay, Venezuela 2008, “Performance & Exhibition”, Tanaka Isson Memorial Museum of Art, Amami Oshima, Japan 2006, “Quinze Ans et Plus si Affinités”, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France 2006, “Art Portable”, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France 2006, “Salon Satellite Yokohama III”, Galerie Satellite, Yokohama, Japan 2006, “Les Phares”, Galerie Satellite, Paris, France 2005, “Salon Satellite”, Galerie Satellite, Yokohama, Japan 2000, “Por los Hijos de Arte”, Del Sur Art Gallery, Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela Collections: Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, Cleveland, OH, USA Tanaka Isson Memorial Museum of Art, Amami Oshima, Japan La Fondazione Filiberto e Bianca Menna – Centro Studi d’Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
Press:
2025, "Alejandro Cristian Caiazza: Allusions to Political and Social Realities in Colorful, Mixed-Media Compositions", Edward M. Gómez, Brut Journal
2024, "Rising Stars: Meet Alejandro Caiazza", CanvasRebel, Blog Post
2024, "Meet Alejandro Caiazza", Bold Journey, Blog Post
2024, "Meet Alejandro Caiazza", CanvasRebel, Blog Post
2024, "Mixed Repertoire", Art Miami Magazine