BALANCING THE SPIRITUAL AND THE MATERIAL: THE ART OF CARLOS CESÁR ALVES
David S. Rubin
​In both life and art, Carlos Cesar Alves maintains a harmonious balance between the physical world of daily experience and the spiritual domains of faith, ritual, and belief in something greater than our time on earth. Because he was born colorblind, Alves never imagined when he was young that he would one day take up painting. In his late-teens and twenties, he followed his spiritual leanings and became a priest in the African-American religion Candomblé, which originated in Salvador and is today practiced mainly in Brazil. After seven years of priesthood, Alves ultimately felt uncomfortable in the role of spiritual leader, so he took a 180-degree turn and entered the business world, serving first as Financial Director for the Brazilian branch of General Motors and then, upon moving to the United States, as Project Manager for Operations and Technology at Citibank. By the time he reached his early forties, Alves was successful in the corporate world, but he now felt a spiritual void. By happenstance, such urges would soon be satisfied by yet another career change.
​In 2006, Alves bought a condominium and thought he would fill the walls with art. After discovering that offerings in Miami's Design District exceeded his financial capabilities, he decided that it would be more economical to make his own paintings. Knowing that this might be challenging because he can see only in black-and-white, he decided to rely on faith. Much to his surprise, when he installed his first paintings in his new digs and held an open house, a Miami gallery owner was impressed enough to invite Alves to participate in a group show. Since that first exhibition, where the artist hit the ground running, he has continued to develop and hone his art practice, which has allowed him to return to a spiritual life without forsaking connections to the material world.
​For Alves, making art is akin to a daily religious practice that is usually performed at night. To begin a painting, Alves blesses a canvas by inscribing a personal sacred symbol on the reverse side using a transparent liquid oil-based medium. He then kneels before a blank canvas, communing in his own way with the cosmos as he awaits inspiration. Although some of the paintings develop intuitively, others result from a more calculating process. His more painterly works, for example, rely upon his emotional impulses, while his geometric configurations reveal his more rational side, as well as his extensive experience with mathematics. He also uses his left-brain analytical skills for color coding the shades of gray that he perceives, although, through a seemingly mystical sixth sense, he is often able to decipher the color orange.
​Alves' oeuvre includes several ongoing series of paintings. Built up from a variety of common materials, the geometric grids in the relief paintings of the Friends series suggest architectural structures and represent logic and order. While a grid is also present in the Moods series, where small individual paintings are organized to simulate a quilt, gestural brushwork and diverse colors animate each unit, transforming it into an expressive record of a momentary emotional state or psychological temperament. For the Dimensions series, Alves uses an Abstract Expressionist approach to produce painterly abstractions that suggest the infinite expanses of cosmic space. Rounding out the repertoire is the Perception series, emotionally charged semi-abstractions. Distinguished by symbolically ambiguous imagery, these paintings invite viewers to find in them their personal stories and meanings.

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