Fernando Luis Alvarez

Fernando Luis Alvarez is an American art gallerist, patron of the arts and art activist based in Stamford, Connecticut.[1][2][3] He is known as the founder of his eponymous art gallery and Clementina Arts Foundation.[4][5][6][7]

Fernando Luis Alvarez
Born
Greenwich, Connecticut
NationalityAmerican
OccupationGallerist, Artist, Art connoisseur and Art Activist
Years active1996 - present
Known forFernando Luis Alvarez Gallery
Clementina Arts Foundation
The Spoon Movement
The Curtain Movement
The Global Recovery Movement

Biography

Early life

Alvarez was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, and he was moved to Colombia at the age of three, where he lived with his grandmother till the age of twelve.[8] Alvarez went through the school system from elementary to Greenwich High School. He then moved to London to pursue higher study from Richmond, The American International University in London in International Business & Finance, Economics and Political Science. In 2008, he started working with collector and gallerist Allan Stone.[9] In the same year, while working at the Stone residence, he started the solo studio, Greenwich Soho Factory in Greenwich[10] and in 2009 he founded the Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery in Stamford,Connecticut which opened its second wing in the year 2013.[11]

Other activities

From 2013 to 2015, Alvarez sought to turn around the underprivilege afterschool programs provided by the Yerwood Center. A Stamford, CT non-profit organization named after Joyce Yerwood and known for working with disadvantaged youth, Alvarez became Chairman of the Board.[12][13] He was responsible for removing the team managing the Center, which had been under financial distress for the last decade. In order to raise funds for the failing Center few wanted to save, Alvarez’ strategy was to focus on the legacy and continued importance of Dr. Joyce Yerwood. This involved approaching women-only leaders to raise the necessary funds required to return the Center to solvency[14][15][16][17][18] From 2012 to 2017, he has served on the board of the Stamford Downtown.[19][20][21]

In 2015, he founded the non profit organization Clementina Arts Foundation paying a tribute to his grandmother's social work. The organization is known for providing educational programs for kids about arts and supports for the struggling artists. To achieve such goals, It offers various programs including Sprouting Spaces and Kid Contemporary. [22][23][24][25][26][27]

Activism

In June 2018, as the part of the Opioid: Express Yourself! exhibition at his art gallery, Alvarez executed a guerrilla installations activism with fabricator Domenic Esposito who created a significant sculpture. This later became to be known as the spoon movement, to draw attention to the pervasive opioid crisis.[28][29] The art activism involved temporary installation of a 10 feet long, 800 pound steel spoon that represented a ‘heroin spoon’. It was deposited in front of the head quarters of Purdue Pharma to manifest symbolic protest against the lack of "accountability" for promoting and encouraging opioid usage, leading to the opioid endemic in the United States.[30][31][32]

Alvarez later said that he selected Purdue pharma office premises to emphasize legal scrutiny the company was facing with its opioid painkiller OxyContin regarding its unscrupulous prescribing practices which contributed to increased patient misuse and the opioid crisis situation.[33][34] Though Purdue pharma claimed that they ceased promoting the drug by February that year and have significantly reduced the "sales force" in June just before the incident took place.[35]

Alvarez was charged with "a criminal misdemeanor and a felony" for installation of the spoon sculpture and was arrested.[36][37][38] The sculpture was confiscated but later returned to Esposito.[39][40] Alvarez avoided being sent to jail, was allowed to participate in an accelerated rehabilitation program and was cleared of the charges on the condition he stay away from the Purdue Pharma for one year.[41][42][43]

In December that year, Alvarez announced that his eponymous gallery would be closed from January 2019.[44][45][46] In 2019, Purdue Pharma while dealing with thousands of lawsuits, filed for bankruptcy and consequently went through a restructuration.[47][48][49][50]

As an extension of the spoon movement, Alvarez initiated the curtain movement in December 2020, which is another form of guerrilla installations activism. Curtains are used to highlight the importance of awareness about opioid endemic.[51]

As the part of the curtain movement, on March 2021, a curtain was installed in front of the Purdue Pharma headquarters which read “FDA’s Dr. Janet Woodcock must go!”, alleging FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock as one of the “enablers of the opioid epidemic" and with the aim to “dissuade the Biden administration from nominating Dr. Janet Woodcock for FDA commissioner”.[52][53]

Alvarez currently co-chairs The Global Recovery Movement (TGRM) with Dan Schneider, The Pharmacist. An international coalition fighting the opioid/fentanyl epidemic, TGRM’s mission is to flip the discrimination of the criminal justice approach to substance use towards a proven public health solution.[54][55]

See also

References
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  2. Syckle, Katie Van; Southall, Ashley (8 September 2019). "Attack Leaves Wall Street's Iconic Bull With a Gash on Its Horn". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  3. Gargan, Scott (25 October 2013). "'Bull' sculpture charges into Stamford". StamfordAdvocate. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  4. 4013177. "Dekit Magazine: Issue #4 REBOUND". Issuu. Retrieved 6 October 2021.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. Weber, Jasmine (21 September 2018). "Art Movements". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  6. Roberts, Laura. "Art Activist and Founder of The Spoon Movement to Speak at Housatonic Community College". news.housatonic.edu. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  7. "ABOUT US | the-curtains". The Curtains (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  8. Hines, Patricia A. (24 November 2017). "Grandmother's inspiration spearheads Stamford gallery owner's mission to give back". StamfordAdvocate. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  9. Lauterborn, Mike. "The Ethos of Tenacity: An Interview with Gallery Owner Fernando Luis Alvarez". www.hamlethub.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  10. "galleryfla - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  11. "The Dish: Isiah Thomas, Ron Howard spotted at taco joint". GreenwichTime. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  13. The New Yerwood Center, retrieved 6 October 2021
  14. "OVERVIEW OF FERNANDO LUIS ALVAREZ GALLERY – Art New England". Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  16. "Artists Set Up Shop to Benefit Yerwood Center :: Stamford, CT | itsrelevant.com". It's Relevant | Stamford, CT. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  17. "Yerwood Center is in Operation :: Stamford, CT | itsrelevant.com". It's Relevant | Stamford, CT. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  24. Schott, Paul (2 September 2020). "Once the site of a Kids Foot Locker, this Stamford storefront now hosts art you can engage with". CTInsider.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  25. Kim, Stephanie (21 December 2017). "Sprouting Spaces awards artist free studio in Wilton". The Hour. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  27. "Sprouting Spaces". Clementina Arts Foundation. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  28. "Welcome to The Spoon Movement". The Spoon Movement. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  31. Media, Barry Lytton / Hearst Connecticut. "Protestors place 500-plus-pound heroin spoon outside Stamford's Purdue Pharma". Connecticut Magazine. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  32. Miranda Larbi (4 July 2018). "Gallery dealer arrested for placing a huge heroin spoon outside a pharma office". Metro. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  33. "A Gallery Owner Was Arrested After Leaving a 10-Foot Heroin Spoon Sculpture at OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma". Time. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  34. "Will museums stop accepting Sackler money in wake of Massachusetts lawsuit?". www.theartnewspaper.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  40. Press, Bill Buchner, Associated. "Judge Rules Artist Can Get Drug Spoon Sculpture Back". www.wshu.org. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
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  44. Laguarda, Ignacio (25 December 2018). "Stamford art gallery known for heroin spoon protest to close". New Haven Register. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  45. Dunne, Susan. "Gallery owner at center of 'giant spoon' opioid protest to close up shop". courant.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  46. "Stamford art gallery known for heroin spoon protest to close". AP NEWS. 25 December 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  47. "Purdue Pharma files for bankruptcy in the US". BBC News. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  48. Hoffman, Jan; Walsh, Mary Williams (16 September 2019). "Purdue Pharma, Maker of OxyContin, Files for Bankruptcy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  49. "Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy. What happens with lawsuits it faces?". STAT. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  50. Schott, Paul (25 March 2021). "As bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma restructures, CT employees face an uncertain future". CTInsider.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  51. "ABOUT US | the-curtains". The Curtains (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  52. Valle, Verónica Del (12 March 2021). "800-pound spoon movement leader launches new anti-Purdue demonstration in Stamford". StamfordAdvocate. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  53. "PressReader.com - Your favorite newspapers and magazines". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  54. "Board Members". Global Recovery Movement. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
  55. "The Social Change —". theinartgallery.com. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
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