English

António Alonso was born in Dalatando - Kuanza North ( Angola ) in 1960 .

He lives just outside the village of Barão de S. João , in the borough of Lagos , Algarve .

From África , he brought the aromas of the earth and colours of the fruits - showing us that within the translucent red of Brazilian cherry ( Pitanga ) there shines a rainbow .

Alonso imagination was fed from childhood games on farms - where toys were made from nothing ; from time and space , and fantasy unleashed in a world far from the stereotyped images of television .

His return to Portugal in 1975 cut-short the glorious horizon - and adapting to his new home was difficult . He came to stay first in Coimbra .

The rich ochres and iron oxides of África gave away to shades of grey . Perhaps in order to hold on the rainbow in his mind , Alonso began painting in 1978 . In 1981 he headedsouth , in search of clarity - and found it in Barão de S. João . Here he established close contact with the longer-standing inhabitants of the village , and became part of the rural enviroment .

His paintings was perfectly hidden among the onions , cabbages and garlic....but slowly life took him further - and farther away from country life . He began being notice in Lagos in the year 2000 .

In 2005 , he exhibited his paintings in the cultural centre of Lagos - finally revealing his "secret" . The exhibition was to act as a springboard .

Among a number of subsequent individual and collective exhibitions . His show " Registos " at gallery Novo Século in Lisbon was particularly significant .

In 2008 travelled to Cape Verde where he lived with the artistic community known as Rebelados in the Santiago island .

Later in another trip , this time to the east in 2009 , he painted murals for the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku - Tokyo . In the same year , he travel to New York with the ideia of witnessing the geometry of the city and stays in the borough of Harlem .

There , he mets the artist Aletha Brown and becomes a member of the Harlem Arts Alliance , and was invited to exhibit at the gallery M : " Extra in Harlem " .

In 2010 , with the impressions gathered from previous experiences , he exhibits in Tavira at Palácio da Galeria : " Viagens e Outras Áfricas " .

He returns to New York to take a course in metal sculpture at the Art Student League , and become a member of this institucion . Led to an incursion into the three-dimensional that would influence his artistic career . The result of this experience is exhibited in Lisbon at the gallery Novo Século : " Made in NY " .

In 2011 , he participates in Figment at Governors Island - NY with an installation of 750 cork and cotton insoles : " Go on Foot " , in a close interaction with the públic . In the same year , he exhibits in Brooklyn at Soap Box Gallery : " Urban Zoom " - the result of a collection of objects found in the urban envoirement .

On his return to Portugal , he creates the performance " Made in Barão " , articulating sound , image and movement , in a choreography directed by Nelda Magalhães , presented in the village of Barão de S. João , where he lives .

He is invited in 2012 to exhibit in Remagen-Bonn at the Acadmy Bassi : " Here and There " - covering a vast period of paintings and objects created in the atelier of the round house . He returns to New York for a solo exhibition at gallery M : " África - watching me ; watching you " . In this same year - 2012 , he has a second participation in Figment , where he resumes the performance " Made in Barão " .

In 2013 , he exhibits in Monchique at Santo António gallery : " Arte Confronto " - where he creates an experimental painting with synthetic enamels . In the same year , with the Czechoslovakian artist Radeck Zinc , he exhibits in Lisbon at gallery Braço de Prata : " Quimic Trails " .

In 2014 participats in the commemorations of the 25th of April in Lagos with a intervention in the cultural centre , in the slave market and in the wall from Barroca street : " Antes que Acabem " - addresses the theme of the human rigths , the constitution of the Portuguese repúblic and freedom .

in 2015 , he returns to Germany and exhibits in Grunner-Freiburg at the gallery K : " Dialogues " - consists of a reuse of objects linked to wine , complemented with an intervention on the front pages of the local newspaper Badisch Zeitung .

In 2017 , he exhibits again in Lisbon at Novo Século gallery : " Aqui á Latas " . For six weeks and during the exhibition , the artist recreats a work envoirement where he remains in interaction with visitors .

In late 2019 , and with the emergence of the pandemic caused by the Corona virus ,Alonso went into a frenetic production , now exhibited in the cultural centre of Lagos : " Com os Pés nas Nuvens " .