bio
A descendant of Jewish gauchos, Alberto was born and raised in bucolic wine country at the foot of the Andes mountains. Encountering NYC as an immigrant teen, he observed and absorbed the cultural dynamics of an activist generation while working odd jobs and studying geology and art. His desire to live an ethical and egalitarian life led him to kibbutz, and there, to work with vulnerable urban youth. Returning to NYC to raise a family and continue his education he earned multiple graduate degrees, including a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University, concurrently working as an educator, academic, clinician, and author.
In tandem with his academic career he pursued creative interests, honing his craft, and creating works in varied media. He studied or apprenticed with prominent artists associated with the MFA in Visual Arts at Brooklyn College, including Patricia Cronin (sculpture), Elizabeth Murray (painting), Juana Valdes (installation), David Lantow (print-making), Stephen Keltner (metal and assemblage), and Jennifer McCoy (video and collaborative art-making).
Alberto’s art defies narrow categories; working within and across various artistic conventions, his work reflects his avid curiosity, life experiences, knowledge of multiple disciplines, and occasionally, humor. Incorporating found objects in sculpture and in site-specific installations he plumbs personal and collective memory, explores psychological meanings of inventive juxtapositions, and addresses both personal and universal human concerns.
Alberto’s work has been shown widely; it is represented in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn College Library, the B.U. Kashkin Museum in Yekaterinburg, and in private collections. Recent site-specific installations include The Plaxall Gallery (LIC-A), Governors Island, Rockland Center for the Arts, and Beacon 3D.
exhibitions
Selected commissioned works, solo, and group shows:
2019: By A Thread. (Large installation). Crashing the Party: Breaking the Barriers of Sculpture and Installation Art. Curated by Barbara O’Brien. The Plaxall Gallery. LIC, NY.
2019: Beacon Moose. Commissioned site-specific installation for Beacon 3D. Curated by Eleni Smolen. Beacon, NY.
2019: Apparatus for the Quantification of Chaotic Reactions. (Site-specific installation). Welcome to the Multiverse. Curated by Janet Rutkowski. The Plaxall Gallery. LIC, NY.
2019: Waiting in Buenos Aires. (Photography essay) Urban Dance, juried photography exhibit at The Plaxall Gallery. Curated by Orestes Gonzalez and John A. Bennette. LIC, NY.
2019: Refuge and RISE (Regression in Service of the Ego). Inside/Outside. Curated by Norma Homberg and Nancy Bruno. Long Island City Artists and Fountain House. The Plaxall Gallery. LIC. NY.
2018: Rockland Moose. (Site-specific sculpture.) Natural Progressions, curated by Barbara Galazzo. Rockland Center for the Arts (RoCA), Nyack, NY.
2018: Selected collage works. Off the Wall. Long Island City Artists, The Plaxall Gallery. Curated by Nancy Macina. LIC, NY.
2018: Within-Without. The Politics of Space at The Plaxall Gallery. Curated by Ginger Andro, Collin Chase, and Caroline Bergonzi. LIC, NY.
2018: The Things We Left Behind. Commissioned site-specific installation at the Brooklyn College Library. Brooklyn, NY.
2017: En el Taller de mi Abuela (In my grandmother’s workshop) Commissioned installation at the Brooklyn College Library. Brooklyn, NY.
2016: Cartographic Narratives. Solo show. Curated by Prof. Miriam Deutch. The Art Gallery at Brooklyn College Library. Brooklyn, NY.
2016. Gowanus Detritus and The Sea will Rise. ArtSlope: The Circle Show. Curated by Jonathan Blum. Shapeshifter Lab, Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY.
2016: Terra Firma and Governors Moose. Large site-specific installation. Island Universe. Curated by Irina Danilova and Hiram Levy. Governors Is, NYC.
2016: Iron Rocker and the works. BRURAL: Crossroads of Equality and Irregularity, curated by Ilya Shipilovskikh, Contemporary Art Gallery at Boris Yeltsin Center, Yekaterinburg, Russia
2016: Iron Rocker and the works. BRURAL: Crossroads of Equality and Irregularity, curated by Ilya Shipilovskikh, Temporary Storage, Bushwick, Brooklyn
2015: It’s the Real Thing. Installation at Economy of Food, Bronx River Arts Center, curated by Irina Danilova. Bronx River Art Center (BRAC), Bronx, NY
2015: Utilitarian Liberty and other works. BRURAL: Skin of Liberty, Fractured and re-Structured, curated by Vladimir Seleznev, OkNo Gallery, Chelyabinsk, Russia
2015: Utilitarian Liberty and other works. BRURAL: Skin of Liberty, Fractured and re-Structured, curated by Vladimir Seleznev, Fine Arts Museum, Nizhny Tagil, Russia
2015: Utilitarian Liberty and other works. BRURAL: Skin of Liberty, Fractured and re-Structured, curated by Vladimir Seleznev, Temporary Storage Gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY.
2014: Splintered Comet and other works. Shattering Phenomena- BRURAL, curated by Svetlana Shlyapnikova, OkNo Gallery, Chelyabinsk, Russia
2014: Splintered Comet and other works. Shattering Phenomena- BRURAL curated by Svetlana Shlyapnikova and Irina Danilova, Bronx River Arts Center, Bronx, NY.
2013: Hanger Cube and other works. Peripheral Vision – BRURAL, curated by Daria Kostina, B.U. Kashkin Museum, Ekaterinburg, Russia
2013: Hanger Cube and other works. Peripheral Vision – BRURAL, curated by Daria Kostina – The Active Space, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY.
2012: The Interview, Site specific installation curated by Irina Danilova and Hiram Levy, SET Gallery, Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY.