Detailed Biography
Born in Manila, Philippines, Alfonso Ossorio, along with his family, left for Europe at the young age of 8. When asked in an interview for the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Ossorio stated that it was during his time in the Philippines, where he first recalls reacting to art, specifically, the decorations in churches influenced during Spanish colonization. Having moved to Europe, Ossorio attended St. Richard’s, an English Preparatory School until the age of 14. He then migrated to the United States and attended schools in New York. Ossorio quickly learned, through his attendance in England’s schools, that art became dull as a result of academic instruction. Ossorio states, “You were taught how to draw and there was no choice as to how you would learn”.
In the United States, Ossorio furthered explored his passion for art and attended Harvard University where he majored in Fine Arts. There he began learning and working with the different art themes. He also took an interest in spiritual and religious based art. After his four years at Harvard, Ossorio continued his education at the Rhode Island School of Design for nine months. Soon after, he met and married his wife in 1940.
It was during this time, that he had met Betty Parsons, who had offered him his first New York exhibition at the Wakefield Gallery in October 1941. Later that year, Ossorio had heard of the tragic incident at Pearl Harbor and enlisted in the US army. He was inducted as a medical illustrator in 1943. Here his art took on the form of surgery plans and diagrams that were too difficult to photograph. In 1949, he returned to the Philippines to decorate a church that was dedicated as a memorial after the war. He had spent eleven months completing the mural decoration.
In 1959, “Ossorio had exhibited his first painting Interlocked with embedded objects: sand, gravel, and shells, and by 1960, Ossorio began to explore alternatives to conventional painting techniques. He replaced palette and brush with an astounding array of found materials such as: eyeballs from taxidermy shops, antlers, seashells, bones, teeth… and much more” (http://thehamptons.com/museum/ossorio). In 1969, he completed INXIT, a largely assembled construction consisting of a wooden door and frame covered with varieties of objects opening to a panel with mirrors.
In 1951, Ossorio purchases an estate in East Hampton, New York known as The Creeks where he also houses and exhibits the entire collection of Companie L’art Brut. Ossorio primarily remained and continued his work in his new estate for more than forty years.
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