Holy Roller

About Alfonse Pagano

Born in 1951 in Paterson, New Jersey, into a third-generation Italian American family. Paterson was gritty, vibrant, and full of contradictions—elements that continue to shape how He sees and make art. Raised by a single mother who saw his creative spark early, He was given freedom to explore. By fourteen, He knew art wasn’t a hobby—it was a path. Though He studied briefly at the School of Visual Arts, He is mostly self-taught. Alfonse learned by making, reading, and working with others—most memorably, Len Lye in the early ’70s. His energy and commitment left a mark. Alfonse has had many studios the first one was above Beacon Paints on the corner of Amsterdam and 78 Street. He worked there for ten years before moving to LA.Three years laterHe returned to the Upper WestSide to begin working on Dreads He then Had studios Tribeca, Financial District, South Street seaport and finally the Iro...

Artist Statement

I began somewhere in the late 1960s, working with cardboard, photographs, and found images—early attempts to understand and organize my world, to hold a fragment of landscape, memory, and human presence as a visual object.. Even then, what mattered to me was not only what the object became, but the act of altering it: cutting, burning, layering, erasing, and rebuilding. The action itself carried as much weight as the final form.I have allways divided my time between painting and sculpture and the combining of the two. Since those early years, two recurring images have run quietly and persisten...

Selected Highlights

• All Politics Are Local, Jackson Junge Gallery, Chicago, IL
• Rituals and Identity, Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY
• Dreads, WBGO Gallery, Newark, NJ
• Dreads, Paterson Museum, Paterson, NJ
• Dreads, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT

Website · Instagram · Facebook

Browse available works below.