Gallery on Greene, 606 Greene St., will open its latest exhibit, “Alice: Inhabiting the Absurd,” a new solo show by acclaimed Cuban artist Ruben Alpizar, on Saturday, April 4.
In the cultural imagination, Alice represents the possibility of stepping beyond the boundaries of logic. That threshold resonates in work Alpizar has developed over recent years. This exhibit showcases some 15 pieces that chart key moments in his evolving practice.
The show opens with an Alice situated within a blue labyrinth, a space where the absurd and modernity converge. From there, the exhibit expands to include works from Alpizar’s Small Bonds series, in which he pays homage to influential figures from the cultural life of Key West, past and present.
Drawing on a technique reminiscent of the old European masters, Alpizar weaves together art‑historical references, personal mythologies and meditations on memory, migration and displacement. Each symbol becomes a clue, inviting viewers to navigate the work and uncover its meanings.
In the Alice series, the artist’s daughter appears as Alice in Wonderland — a symbolic alter ego through whom Alpizar explores universal themes of childhood, memory and the everyday. In one painting, Alice lies with her back turned toward a ruined landscape; in another, she carries her own home as she searches for a place to belong. This gesture becomes the thread that binds the series: a tribute to Lewis Carroll in which the dreamlike universe of the novel intersects with the complexities of contemporary life.
A highlight of the exhibit is “The Great Game of 2025,” a work composed as a constellation of small staged scenes. Fragmented games unfold within niches reminiscent of comic‑strip panels, populated by characters drawn from global culture and advertising imagery. These vignettes interact as players within a structure inspired by the geometric rigor of Piet Mondrian.
In one niche, set against a vivid red field, race cars confront one another in an impossible standoff. The scene evokes not a track but a tension between speed and limit, ambition and fragility. The red suggests both the adrenaline of spectacle and the latent risk that shadows one of the world’s most celebrated motorsports. With irony and drama, the image reflects a human impulse: the pursuit of triumph at any cost, where the line between glory and tragedy nearly disappears.
In Alpizar’s hands, imagination becomes a tool of inquiry, transforming the viewer into an active participant. More information is at 305-304-2323 and galleryongreene.com.
