A Conversation With Contemporary Conceptual Artist Christine Alfery

By Lisa Freedman / SunStorm Arts / Fine Art Magazine

Christine Alfery is an award winning Contemporary Conceptual Artist that has been widely exhibited in museums, galleries and in corporate and private collections around the world. Alfery earned her Bachelors of Science degree, her Master’s Degree in Education, her MFA degree and her Ph.D In Contemporary Art History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her work is deeply influenced by the work of William de Kooning, Wassily Kandinsky, Cy Twombly and later by the female artists of that era, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Elaine de Kooning.

I asked Christine how a mid-westerner finds such a strong connection with the Abstract Expressionist Painters of the past.
Here is what she had to say.

“As a young adult majoring in art and art education during the 60’s the idea of change, and breaking the rules was very appealing. The idea of thinking differently and challenging the status quo was right up my alley for I was never able to conform to any kind of standardization. And that was what these artists were all about – thinking differently, not only with the media’s they used, but also with the marks they created to define an idea, a thought, a concept.”

Christine’s work employs many of the techniques the abstract expressionists utilized, including: gestural mark making, color fields and conceptual work. But, she has a style that is uniquely her own and one that has been widely, well-received and rewarded for its’ own uniqueness and beauty.
In her words “The influence the Abstract Expressionist painters have had on my work is “not to copy their ideas, but to glorify uniqueness, difference and change”. Also important to her is authenticity, that is, an artist who is true to themselves and not to the whims of market trends. Christine Alfery’s work is all of that and more.

Alfery shows her paintings nationally and internationally. She competes in watercolor competitions around the world. Christine has won over 100 national awards and is a signature member of 10 national watercolor societies throughout the United States. She has been in more than 65 publications.