Meet Alfredo Monroy: Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alfredo Monroy and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alfredo, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I kind of backed up into being an artist. I never received any training or schooling or n art. I had been an art lover and patron for a while. After suffering a couple of injuries, I had a lot of time on my hands since exercise was not an option. While driving one day, I spotted an art store and walked in, bought a few basic supplies. Went home and copied a painting from my favorite artist…Picasso. It came out much better than I thought it would. That motivated me to continue painting and creating my own work. The more I painted, the more creative I got and the more I wanted to create.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art career began in a very unconventional way and has evolved in the past 5 years. I see it in phases….early on, it was about discovering my identity, mostly incorporating different elements of the artists that influenced me the most. The second phase I began incorporating a lot of women into my paintings and also began adding text into my work. In retrospect, I feel like my work started to have more meaning than prior, when It was all about aesthetics. In the current phase I began being a lot more outspoken and inquisitive in my work. In this new phase I have concentrated much more heavily on the meaning instead. I have created a series of drawings using oil pastels and pencil on paper incorporating a new style, medium and technique, focused more so on the expression , while still maintaining a certain beauty. The series explores a few subjects that cross my mind quite often. Mostly tied to the Art World, pop culture, consumerism, vanity, how we view wealth, self-imagery, race, happiness, culture and society in general, along with an introspective view of myself. Each drawing explores, pokes fun at-and highlights several subjects simultaneously and are intended to make the viewer think and analyze how each of us thinks and acts as individuals and as a society. My art keeps evolving and I’m excited to see what my art will look like in the next 5 years.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I love Miami and all it’s spots. In a pre Covid world, we would be somewhere in Wynwood, Little Havana, The Design District, the Brickell area or on South Beach. I love Street Art, and Wynwood has some of the best Street Art in the world. I find the whole art vibe very inspiring to me and of course great food and drinks everywhere. My favorite is Charleys Vegan Tacos! Little Havana also has some great Street Art, Art galleries, cigar shops, etc. the whole Cuban, Latin American vibe resonates with my Cuban roots.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
All of my success has to be attributed to the support of my family, friends, fellow artists that I have inspired me and I have been able to learn from, and of course all the wonderful supporters of my art who without none of it would be possible.

Website: monroyartist.com
Instagram: @monroyartist
Twitter: @monroyartist
Facebook: @monroyartist