Alejandro Rubio’s paintings are intended to create a world of their own, in which imagination, observation, and interpretation collide to address, in a very unique way, the urban experience.

Imaginary buildings, streets and avenues, parks and gardens are arbitrarily put together as a set for a fantastic play in which undefined stories seem to be about to unfold. A solitary figure crossing the street, sometimes a woman carrying a bag, all become protagonists of these situations which the artist opens for the viewer to resolve, establishing this way of communication he greatly enjoys.

Memories of different urban spaces are the material these inventions are made of. “I try to revive emotions and feelings I experienced in certain cities I’ve been to. Perhaps that’s why people identify in my imaginary cities, places they recognize.” explains Rubio. “There’s definitely a sense of longing in my paintings.”

Born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay, Alejandro Rubio grew up in a very restrained society, in which civil liberties were banned by a brutal military dictatorship who took by force the government of the country. Thousands of Uruguayans of all walks of life were either killed, jailed or exiled between 1971 and 1985. In 1983 he enters an intervened University to study Art History since Art School had been definitely closed down by the military. Soon after the resistance movement would finally bring to an end such a grim period of his country’s history. A strong need to express the frustration and rage caused by this situation compels Rubio to embrace the art of painting. Determined to learn in any way possible he decides to start private classes in drawing and painting with Edgardo Ribeiro Nario, a late member of the great tradition of constructivist painters started in Uruguay by Joaquin Torres Garcia. After three years of intense work he begins to study with another member of the same group, the renowned teacher and artist Guillermo Fernandez, with whom Alejandro develops a personal style based on figuration, abstraction and a particularly bold use of color.

Several group shows and a couple solo shows mark instances of relevance in his career, which would take a severe turn when he decides to relocate to Northern California in 2001.

The adjustment to a new reality, the experience of being an émigré in America induces in his work the elements of a new language. As symbols of this new situation, emotions of anguish start to appear in his paintings.

Gradually his style began to shift, again, when he stopped drawing ideas exclusively from within, but from his surroundings. The impact of the hazy Californian light and the architecture of the San Francisco Bay Area became a source of inspiration and the cityscapes became a celebration of life. Starting in 2019 he began a new body of work in which the human figure gets entangled in the landscape bringing forward a surreal tone to the work. Some of these pieces stem from his “Island” landscapes, imaginary places surrounded by water where he plays with scale and perspective portraying an idyllic place where life seems to happen unaffected by the woes of this world.

One of Rubio’s cityscapes is represented in the Crocker Museum’s permanent collection. He was one of the 130 artists in the first Bay Area-wide Hearts in San Francisco art in public places project, and one of the 22 selected by Christie’s International to be live auctioned at the project’s final event.

One of his paintings was recently selected to be part of the De Young Open, a regional survey of Bay Area contemporary artists and a 20 year survey of his work was recently presented at the Pence Gallery in Davis, Ca.