Alexis Portilla

Alexis Portilla holds an MFA from Columbia University (1990) and a BFA from Pratt Institute. His work is in more than 250 private collections worldwide and in many international public and corporate collections including The New York Public Library, Harvard University, Pepsi Co., Warner Music Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Penn State University, Norwest Venture Partners, and Mikasa Corporation. He has exhibited internationally at venues from New York to Hong Kong, including the Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, Hofstra University Museum in New York, and Monmouth Museum in New Jersey.

Influenced by the emotion of artistic expression in music, poetry and literature, the artist finds bold expression in color, lines and shapes that resemble pictographs, and texture.

Alexis Portilla's large scale pieces like Anemone, Black Elk, Thor Twins, Tokyo, Chromatic Fantasy are spectacular pieces in terms of the atmospheric brushwork, colors and textures. His bold linear lines, use of symbols, pictographs and strong colors create atmospheric abstracts. 

“Alexis is a poet in space and a painter of original feeling… He conveys a constant sense of expansion.”

Artist Will Barnet (1911-2012), June 2007

Alexis Portilla obtained his Master's of Fine Arts at Columbia University in 1990 and has been working as an artist for more than 20 years. We showcase this talented artist's virtuosity ranging from the strong, bold and big to the fragile, vulnerable small exquisite pieces in beeswax and oil. Influenced by the emotion of artistic expression in music, poetry and literature, the artist finds bold expression in color, lines and shapes that resemble pictographs, and texture. Often, his pictographs depict vessels because of its significance to many aspects of the human condition. His bold linear lines, use of symbols, pictographs and strong colors create atmospheric abstracts.

“Using simple forms and creating swathes of rich texture, Alexis Portilla builds atmospheric abstract paintings that convey a sense of time having passed. Brushy areas of color suggest the indeterminacy of memory, while bold linear forms speak for the present.”

- Meredith Mendelsohn, Art News magazine review.

Alexis has shown in group and solo exhibitions both nationally and internationally. His works have been commissioned by major corporations, universities and for private collections.

Education

MFA, Columbia University (1990)

BFA, Pratt Institute

Instruction

1993-1994 Faculty /Adjunct Instructor

Department of Printmaking

Columbia University New York, NY

Awards

1983 – 1994 HEOP/SEOG Full scholarship

To attend Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

1984-85 Charles A. Dana Internship and

Grant, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY

Select Public Commissions:

- April 2007 Penn State University -State College, PA Department of Chemistry

Select Public Collections:

- 1996 The New York Public Library, New York, NY

Department of Prints and Drawings

Roberta Waddell

- Penn State University

Selected Corporate Collections

Harvard Club Cambridge, MA

PWC Boston, MA

Meredith and Grew Boston, MA

Farley White Boston, MA

Edwards and Angell Providence, RI

Acadian Asset Management Boston, MA

Proskauer Rose Boston, MA