We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Erika Alonso a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Erika, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you have an agent or someone (or a team) that helps you secure opportunities and compensation for your creative work? How did you meet you, why did you decide to work with them, why do you think they decided to work with you?

I am one of a handful of artists represented by Alise Art Group (AAG) in Houston, Texas. I met the founder and CEO Moriah Alise through Lamonté French, one of my close artist friends (who is also represented by Alise Art Group). I decided to work with AAG because I trust Moriah with her depth and breadth of knowledge of all facets of the art world. I know that AAG will continue to help me grow as an artist and offer opportunities for me to put myself and my artwork out there. AAG has created a support network of creatives and visual artists in the Houston art community. It’s helpful to have someone who can help you see the big picture and quell any insecurities, and to have a network and community of artists based on trust, mutual respect, and an abundance of creative talent. I truly believe that AAG’s model as an art house is the future for artist representation.

Erika, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’m an abstract visual artist and painterly painter working in Houston, Texas. I spend most of my time painting and creating works in my studio at Winter Street Studios.

My childhood was spent in Southern California, a place that often inspires my landscape-like abstract paintings. My most recent works are an experiment with abstracting landscapes and figures in a way that conveys a dream-like memory made of paint. These whimsical, abstract-figurative landscape paintings are meant to capture a moment in all of its fleetingness—the movement and rush and whirl of it. I like to describe my work as an escape from reality. My paintings are places I’d like to spend my time—places that are indeterminate and always dynamic, pleasantly stimulating, enchanting, and complex.

I make large acrylic paintings on wood and canvas as well as small- to mid-sized watercolor paintings. My current influences can be seen plainly in my work: Willem DeKooning and his use of charcoal and blending of unconventional materials, as well as his idea of a “slipping glimpser”; Marc Chagall’s whimsical and dreamy paintings; and Cecily Brown in her fractured brushstrokes. I’ve also been working in wire recently, inspired by Ruth Asawa’s tied-wire sculptures.

Despite always being an artist, I had very little experience or interaction with Art when I was younger. Perhaps that’s why I’m making up for time lost—I paint nearly every day!

My paintings have been exhibited throughout the Houston area and in group shows at Lawndale Arts Center, Archway Gallery, and Foltz Fine Art Gallery. I had my very first solo exhibition titled Where is this place? in November 2021 at G Contemporary Art Space. I’m also a City of Houston 2022 SACI grant recipient and am currently working on a multi-disciplinary art project called Land(e)scape which will take place in late 2022.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Society can best support artists by paying artists! There are so many ways in which creatives add value to their communities, and that value should be compensated financially. Houston has great grant opportunities through Houston Arts Alliance, but ultimately, buying local and collecting art from local artists is the best way for an individual to support artists. As for society more broadly, supporting local nonprofit arts organizations and encouraging funding toward arts-related programming also helps support artists.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

What’s most rewarding about being an artist is that I get to do what I love every day for the rest of my life. I think “finding your passion” is actually quite rare—I didn’t realize I hadn’t found my passion until I did! And I know without a doubt that art is for me; painting is for me. It’s an identity, lifestyle, and personal mission full of purpose and fulfillment. Of course, it’s also a lot of work! But it doesn’t bother me much as I know I’m working towards an ultimate goal yet to be defined. There’s something I find very exciting about that.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://erikaalonso.art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erikaalonsoart/

Image Credits
@Kenin3d