From the artist's website:

Born in Matanzas, Cuba in 1974, he grew up surrounded by intense contrasts of colors, pre-1959 American cars and the surging Communist government. His immersion in Cuba’s rhythms and sensuousness was short lived but nonetheless had a lasting impact on his young imagination.

After working extensively with aluminum for over 15 years, Alfonso now utilizes his knowledge of pure pigments and fire in his paintings on Baltic birch. He builds color, through hundreds of layers, distressing the surface and painting it again deepening the thought or memory. Writings carved and burned into the wood recall the traces of lives and languages left by migrants and immigrants as they move from place to place. At times, the words reveal themselves to be lines of poetry, cherished verses from youth remembered even as the artist struggles to recall more. Alfonso’s personal experiences provide the iconography and palette for his work. The paintings bask in a serenity that recalls his early childhood and his fondness for the brilliant colors, hues and textures of antique cars and life in Cuba. "At the same time, the pieces are charged with the excitement of discovery, as well as a sense of being at one with the experience of building a new life in a new land."