Jose H. Alvarenga Still-life Paintings

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga presents a still life of a vintage angel figurine. "On this piece, I wanted to represent the sim...

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga shares an image of a red shoe on a skateboard with a toy on the side. "On this piece, I got inspired to represent the X Games in a fun ...

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga displays a vintage still life of an old photocard adjacent to a green lime. The little girl appears to paint the fruit beyond the car...

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga illustrates a still life of a vintage milkmaid ornament. "I found this lovely figurine on eBay and decided to buy it and paint it," shares Jose. A rare and unique decoration that implies elegance in its simplicity. He highlights the rustic quality of its costume, face, and posture.

About the Artist
Jose’s soft still life paintings are like visual puns. He creates relationships between objects that evoke both amusement and contemplation in the viewer. By devising a clever dialogue between objects, Jose turns a still life into a story. Jose utilizes a classical realist style with a gentle nod to surrealism through his unique subject selections. He is inspired by everyday objects, particularly those with a quality of nostalgia, memory, or humor. Jose paints out of his Los Angeles area apartment, where he also enjoys playing the keyboard and reading art books.

Words that describe this painting: still life, classical realism, milkmaid, elegance, peasant, Harnett, milkmaid, Vermeer, small, oilpaint, classical, figurine, vintage, still life, classical, oil painting, beige

The Milkmaid...

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga displays a symbolic still life of a mobile phone, a rose, and a stuffed bear holding a laced heart readin...

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga paints a representational composition of a hundred-dollar bill and a lighter. He uses clever symbolism in this charming still life. He paints a fire sticker on top to give the impression that the money has been lit. He adds trails of smoke from the bill to give an illusion that it is burning.

About the Artist
Jose’s soft still life paintings are like visual puns. He creates relationships between objects that evoke both amusement and contemplation in the viewer. By devising a clever dialogue between objects, Jose turns a still life into a story. Jose utilizes a classical realist style with a gentle nod to surrealism through his unique subject selections. He is inspired by everyday objects, particularly those with a quality of nostalgia, memory, or humor. Jose paints out of his Los Angeles area apartment, where he also enjoys playing the keyboard and reading art books.

Words that describe this painting: classical realism, trompe l´oeil, representational, money, lighter, Harnett, still life, vintage, fun, oilpaint, small, still life, vintage, oil painting, brown

Money to Burn...

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"I got inspired to paint something related to the question, 'Is it luck or fate?'" says artist Jose H. Alvarenga. "As a representation of luck, I painted the horseshoe, the four-leaf clover, and the number 7. The sun tarot...

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In classical vintage style, artist Jose H. Alvarenga imposes his spin on still-life pieces with an action figure on top of lettered toy blocks. "I bought the whole collection of the DC comic characters and decided to paint this figurine of the Green Arrow," narrates Jose. He paints variations of green through neutralizing, brightening, and blending. Jose colors a block red for a complete contrast opposite to green.

About the Artist
Jose’s soft still life paintings are like visual puns. He creates relationships between objects that evoke both amusement and contemplation in the viewer. By devising a clever dialogue between objects, Jose turns a still life into a story. Jose utilizes a classical realist style with a gentle nod to surrealism through his unique subject selections. He is inspired by everyday objects, particularly those with a quality of nostalgia, memory, or humor. Jose paints out of his Los Angeles area apartment, where he also enjoys playing the keyboard and reading art books.

Words that describe this painting: figurine, classical realism, still life, comics, Harnett, alphabet blocks...

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga paints a tribute to action-adventure movies in classical impressionism. He pictures the hero of the film, a plastic toy soldier...

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Inspired by the atmosphere of spring, artist Jose H. Alvarenga references a framed picture he found at an art supply store. As a sto...

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Part of artist Jose H. Alvarenga's Windmills series. "In this painting, I decided to include another copy of Jacob Van Ruisdael´s landscape paintings featuring a windmill," says Jose. "I also painted a very old Flemish painting medium and a dutch flower vase...

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"I was inspired to paint a classical Polaroid camera, a photo album with two photos of me and a USB memory," shares artist Jose H. Alvarenga. "The two photos of me were from when I was a little kid and when I was 21 years old and went to Paris. I decided to paint them in a bit loose or impressionistic manner. The camera is the most iconic vintage Polaroid camera...

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"In this painting, I wanted to capture a traditional and a contemporary style of representational painting," says artist Jose H. Alvarenga. He portrays youth ...

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"In this piece, I was inspired to paint the doll with its beautiful kimono robe and the Japanese girl pictured on the mirror," explains artist Jose H. Alvaren...

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In this painting I got inspired by the little angel figurine playing the violin and the stamp of German composer Paul Lincke, also playing violin. The address on the letter is to give homage to William Harnett...

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A classic still life depicting a ceramic bottle and a half-peeled lemon with its peel twirling off the table. "I like to combine traditionalism with contemporar...

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"For this piece, I thought it would be so much fun to articulate a painting within a painting," says artist Jose H. Alvarenga." "The image on display is of a lime in the process of being finished with the real subject next to it."

About the Artist
Jose’s soft still life paintings are like visual puns. He creates relationships between objects that evoke both amusement and contemplation in the viewer. By devising a clever dialogue between objects, Jose turns a still life into a story. Jose utilizes a classical realist style with a gentle nod to surrealism through his unique subject selections. He is inspired by everyday objects, particularly those with a quality of nostalgia, memory, or humor. Jose paints out of his Los Angeles area apartment, where he also enjoys playing the keyboard and reading art books.

Words that describe this painting: still life, classical, realism, fruit, Harnett, Chardin, lime, still life, classical, representational, oil painting, brown

Mini Painting...

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"I got inspired to paint this cute figurine of a girl playing the flute to three birds," says artist Jose H. Alvarenga. "To complement the scene I decided to ...

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Vintage piano-shaped music box, pen and handwritten note painted in a classical trompe l'oeil style. "I love the sound of music boxes, it's incredible how all those tiny holes can replicate a melody," says Jose. "On the note I wrote "Gymnopedie #1 by Erik Satie" - one of my favorites classical pieces."

About the Artist
Jose’s soft still life paintings are like visual puns. He creates relationships between objects that evoke both amusement and contemplation in the viewer. By devising a clever dialogue between objects, Jose turns a still life into a story. Jose utilizes a classical realist style with a gentle nod to surrealism through his unique subject selections. He is inspired by everyday objects, particularly those with a quality of nostalgia, memory, or humor. Jose paints out of his Los Angeles area apartment, where he also enjoys playing the keyboard and reading art books.

Words that describe this painting: classical realism, still life, music, music box, piano, Eric Satie, William Harnett...

Artist Comments
"I always love to paint challenging yet simple still lifes as this," says Jose. "I was inspired by this vintage 'Our Dairy Best' canister which I bought online to use as a model. The most colorful details are painted on the canister; the other subjects are variations of black, white and grays."

About the Artist
Jose’s soft still life paintings are like visual puns. He creates relationships between objects that evoke both amusement and contemplation in the viewer. By devising a clever dialogue between objects, Jose turns a still life into a story. Jose utilizes a classical realist style with a gentle nod to surrealism through his unique subject selections. He is inspired by everyday objects, particularly those with a quality of nostalgia, memory, or humor. Jose paints out of his Los Angeles area apartment, where he also enjoys playing the keyboard and reading art books.

Words that describe this painting: classical, realism, still life, cows...

Artist Comments
"For this painting I got inspired to paint something very small with lots of details," says Jose. "On the matchbox I painted the smallest copy of a painting that I have every painted. The copy is of a self portrait painting of Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun. This type of vintage matchbox...

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On this piece I painted a little Dutch ceramic windmill souvenir with a small Delft blue windmill drawing. In the background there's another windmill scene: a copy of Jacob Van Ruisdael...

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Artist Jose H. Alvarenga presents a still-life of a toy block with a chicken doodle next to an egg. He creates a playful take on the divisive mystery of the chi...