A new exhibition opening this weekend at the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance brings together centuries of imagery in a single frame—layering historical photographs, classical references and pop culture into a dense visual narrative.
For artist Alejandro Mazon, the work is rooted in a simple idea: “Nothing in his art is entirely new, but everything is reimagined.”
His show, Stories in the New Baroque, opens Saturday in the Loft Gallery with a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Mazon spoke about the influences that shape his work, describing himself as “Cuban by birth, Spanish by blood, and American by choice” and his work as baroque—dense, dramatic and layered—drawing on Spanish artistic traditions, Afro-Cuban influences and American pop culture.
“When you mix those two, it becomes really an interesting tension,” he said. “And then… American pop culture… adds a little bit of spice into the entire thing.”
Mazon’s approach also challenges a foundational idea in the art world: originality. In his artist statement, he rejects the concept outright.
“After looking at images for 60-some years now, I’ve come to the conclusion that there really isn’t very much that’s all original,” he said, pointing to even canonical figures like Pablo Picasso, whose work drew from African art traditions.
“What becomes creative about it is how you put it together and how you make it your own.”
That process, he says, is driven less by inspiration than by discipline. Each day begins the same way: in the studio, surrounded by images.
“I don’t believe in inspiration. I actually believe in discipline,” Mazon said. “I get up every single morning and sit in my studio… and finally one of them catches my eye. And from that one image, the entire painting develops.”
His compositions often combine unlikely elements—Victorian photographs, 17th-century figures, comic book imagery—assembled instinctively rather than through careful planning.
“There is no magic to it,” he said. “It’s instinct.”
Part of that instinct, he says, involves a willingness to disrupt and reinterpret the past. That approach was shaped in part by a brief early encounter with artist Jean-Michel Basquiat while Mazon was studying in New York.
Watching Basquiat work, he recalled, revealed a kind of freedom—an unfiltered, intuitive relationship with materials and imagery.
“He had this sort of nonchalant, non-caring attitude about paint,” Mazon said. “Working with images that already exist, you have to have a certain sense of almost disrespect… otherwise you can’t translate it into your own.”
Visitors to Stories in the New Baroque won’t find a single centerpiece work, Mazon said. Instead, the exhibition is meant to be experienced as a whole.
“Every painting reads like a page in a book,” he said. “Whatever story that is is up to the viewer.”
He describes the show as a space filled with “stories that are mysterious… forming before your eyes,” where meaning emerges through the viewer’s imagination rather than the artist’s direction.
“I’m a storyteller,” Mazon said. “But the narrative is up to you. It’s not up to me.”
After more than three decades as an artist, what keeps him returning to the studio isn’t simple inspiration.
“Stubbornness. Stupidity at times. Self-punishment,” he said with a laugh, before turning reflective. “I’m an artist because there’s nothing else in my life that gives me any meaning.”
“It’s very torturous,” he added. “You have a lot of ups and a lot of downs… in the end, I’m an artist because there’s nothing else that I can be.”
Delaware Valley Arts Alliance is a financial supporter of Radio Catskill.
Image: “The Golden Calf” by Alejandro Mazon featured in the new exhibit “Stories in the New Baroque.”(DVAA)