Bio

Lisa Alonzo (b. 1984) was raised in Northern California and earned her BFA in painting in 2008 from the Academy of Art in San Francisco. Alonzo uses pastry tips and cake decorating tools to create her paintings which examine themes of consumption and our illusory relationship with reality. Her work has been shown internationally and widely across the US including shows in New York, Miami, San Francisco and Chicago. Alonzo’s work is held in the public collections of the 21c Museum and The Federal Reserve.

Alonzo now lives and works in Maine.

Artist Statement

As a child I was enamored by frosting. I wanted that corner piece of cake and had dreams of becoming either a librarian or a cake decorator. My obsession with the sculptural nature of frosting continued in art school with my adoption of using pastry tips and cake decorating tools to create my paintings. I enjoy being playful while utilizing these tools to aesthetically address topics such as environmental toxins, the propaganda value of money, WW2, and whistleblowers.  

I use my unique painting technique to explore this myriad of unsavory themes and make them more palatable by rendering them as heavily frosted, beautifully intricate cakes. The overarching theme connecting my body of work pertains to our culture's consumption of information, and our ability (or lack thereof) to decipher between reality and fiction. I utilize my materials to create a visual and tactile experience for the viewer by building up the surface using acrylic gel medium and piping it onto the surface using pastry bags and tips. While some series employ a pointillistic realism, and others rely more on abstraction, the end result is a painting that looks deceptively good enough to eat; an abundance of peaks, starbursts, flowers, small rhythmic dots, and ribbons of graduated color draped over decadent mounds of paint masquerading as frosting.
‍
www.lisaalonzo.net

When did you realize you wanted to pursue art professionally?

As a child I was always artistic but never considered it a possibility. When I was studying interior design in college, I realized I didn’t want to do any more drafting, I just wanted to make paintings. Admitting that changed my trajectory, and the next year I moved up to San Francisco to go to art school.

Whether fellow artist or friend, who has continued to inspire your work?

Early in my career, I was connected with a collector in Miami who has an extensive knowledge and passion for art and art history. I’ve never met anyone who lives and breathes art so intensely and she has given me the arts education I never knew I needed. She will often call me up with ideas she finds interesting and I will bounce ones off her. Sometimes I feel certain works are a collaboration — although she’d never agree! She’s gone out a limb for me and hooked me up with numerous galleries and collectors. Just an absolute fairy godmother situation. I consider myself extremely lucky.

What do you enjoy exploring through your art?

I love exploring themes surrounding consumption, particularly information. I make my paintings using pastry tips and cake decorating tools so they appear to be made of frosting, but they’re not — it’s acrylic paint, just plastic. That’s visual information. Nowadays, I am realizing we can’t trust much of the information we consume, and how that changes the way we interact with current and historical narratives. Although I always utilize my frosting techniques to explore these themes, the style and subject matter changes frequently. Right now, I’m working on still life images. I’m sneaking in all sorts of symbolism and objects that might be on the heavy side and try to make them really appealing to the viewer.  

I have also been thinking about AI art and how much of what we engage with is on a flat screen.  In contrast, my work has a very tactile quality, and it takes a long time to make. It is obviously made by a human. I like that the creation of my work exists in opposition to the way the wind is blowing.

Looking back, what advice do you wish you could give your younger self?

That there is no “arriving”. Your work will never be quite where you want it, just keep working. Make work. And more. As you refine your technique and thought process your work will get closer to where you want it. Also, get used to being uncomfortable.  

What is one thing you hope your audience walks away with after experiencing/viewing your work?

I want them to be struck by something really beautiful and interesting, and to stop and look closer. And to be honest, it can stop there. I’m totally ok with a painting just being beautiful. But in a perfect world, I’d hope they’d linger long enough to contemplate some of the ideas within the work — most importantly that everything should be questioned, always.