• Searches and Seizures - Image 1
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Alfonse Pagano

Searches and Seizures

Searches and Seizures

$2,035.00 USD
$2,035.00 USD
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Titled "Search and Seizures," this monochromatic piece presents an abstract rendition of the American flag. The artwork is marked by irregular, dynamic, and overlapping black strokes that contribute to its textured and chaotic appearance. The familiar horizontal stripes and field of stars are both recognizable yet distorted, enhancing the abstract quality. The composition delivers a rough and expressive aesthetic, with a palpable sense of motion and intensity conveyed through the varied brush or pencil strokes. This piece serves as a visually striking interpretation, challenging traditional representations and evoking a profound, contemplative response. Rush to Relics Series are deconstructions and manipulation of the American flag with the intention to transform them into something physically and emotionally separated from their beginnings. The flags are first deconstructed, aged, torn apart and some are installations or sculpture pieces and others are reconstructed in collage form, photographed, printed on rice paper laminated to canvas, where I may finish off with a pen, paint, graphite and liquid polymer. This work provides a path to process my disbelief at the accelerating, heartbreaking madness following the U.S. 2016 election. This piece was created during the Trump, administration and I hoped to express and convey the feeling of chaos and destruction of our American democratic values.

Artwork Details

Artist:
Alfonse Pagano
Artist Gallery:
View all works by Alfonse Pagano
Year Created:
2022
Dimensions:
24 × 36 in
Edition:
Original 1/1
Style:
Pagano places the American flag at the center of the image and then dismantles it through dense graphite pressure, leaving black strokes to flicker between recognition and ruin. The star field compresses into a turbulent upper register, while the vertical stripes below fracture into streaks, scrapes, and veils of tone that read as abrasion as much as drawing. White paper remains active throughout, but it is overwhelmed by cross-hatched motion and smoky buildup, giving the surface a weathered, physically worked presence. The work stands in conversation with postwar gestural abstraction and politically charged flag imagery, extending the lineage of Jasper Johns through a more openly destructive, emotionally charged register.
Tags:
graphite,american flag,gestural abstraction,monochrome,political art,mark making,abrasion,postwar abstraction,collage drawing,expressionism

About Alfonse Pagano

Alfonse Pagano creates original artwork available to collect on Art Emerge, an AI-powered marketplace for artists and collectors.

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.

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.

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

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