Town Hall Seattle Arts & Culture Series

Juan Alonso-Rodríguez describes his paintings and sculptures as an on-going exploration of abstraction based on forms both found in nature, and those conceived by human ingenuity. From horizon lines to his father’s wrought iron railing designs, memories of sights and sounds of his Caribbean origins always play an integral part in his creativity. He is influenced by the organized balance, pattern, and symmetry found in nature as well as that of architecture that lives in harmony with the natural world. In the first Gage art talk of the season, Scott Méxcal interviews Alonso-Rodríguez about how he “accidentally” became a professional artist, his long career in the Pacific Northwest, being Latinx, the changing Seattle landscape, and the process of art as meditation. Cuban-born Juan Alonso-Rodríguez is a self-taught artist whose transition from music to visual arts coincided with his move to Seattle in 1982. His work has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and is included in permanent collections such as Tacoma Ar