20th-21st Century Venezuelan

Álvarez Basso started to make a name for himself in the 1980s while attending the Arte Actual workshops held at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid, where he made the acquaintance of artists of the stature of Darío Villalba (1939-2018), Eduardo Arroyo (1937-2018) and Gustavo Torner (1925).

His thoughtful and evocative matter-based practice, in the style of Antoni Tàpies (1923-2012), incorporates elements such as teeth, saws, circles, eyes, and Arab-like writing. A taut sense of tension, a key element of his poetics, is introduced by the presence of figurative symbols charged with a narrative drive, in paintings created in an atmosphere akin to .

Álvarez Basso’s artistic merit was recognised from the outset of his career, and he has received a number of scholarships, including one which allowed him to travel to Paris in 1988, and accolades like the First Prize in Painting at the Santa Lucía Awards in 1989.