by Rebecca Romani

October 27, 2025

Border regions tend to be messy places. Ideas surge and mutate. People move through, discarding the trappings of their previous lives. Evidence of industrial encroachment, “development,” often toxic, lies abandoned, frequently leaching into the ground.

But where people see trash, border artist Alvaro Alvarez sees form, shape, and the opportunity to create something interesting out of material that speaks to him.

Alvarez, who trained as an architect at Cornell, describes himself as an “architectural artist.” His materials come from what he picks up in his meanderings through San Ysidro, where he currently has his studio, and Tijuana, where he spent much of his childhood.

For Alvarez, the repurposing and recasting of what he finds, helps tell the story of resilience in the border region as well as express his concerns about the environmental and human degradation happening there.

Alvarez is currently artist in residence at the Casa de Flor Gallery in Bankers Hill, a house turned gallery and event space, partnering with curator Hector Bustamante and resident Casa de Flor curator, Andy Gonzalez (of La Onda Latina). Gonzalez calls Alvarez’s work inspired by architectural design with a modern art twist and a sensitivity towards Eco art. Gonzalez first encountered Alvarez through family connections and thought his work would look good in the clean and unfussy space of a semi-craftsmen gallery/home.

“Alvaro is strongly influenced by architecture but has his own distinctive style,” Gonzalez told Vanguard Culture.

The metaphor of showing in a restored house works well for Alvarez’ new series of drawings and installations which he calls “AbandonmenTissues.”

The work, built from left behind industrial material and common refuse is well positioned. A variety of surfaces- the brick chimney, the high walls, and unexpected alcoves- set off the pieces to good effect.

Alvarez sees his work as both commentary and a call to action in his use of materials like abandoned Styrofoam, cardboard, and rubber.

These materials, he says, are the result of the burgeoning economic activity in the San Diego/Tijuana region.

This tremendous binational activity, Alvarez says, comes with unintended consequences- material that will not break down for 1000 years, environmental degradation, and human costs in a binational context.

Alvarez collects what he finds and then puts it through yet another transformative process- using gesso, India ink, and layering to create work that speaks of cross border transactions and opportunities to build something new. He describes working with discarded materials and ink as an exciting collaborative process as he works to reveal the ideas and energy contained within.

“I am thrilled and happy to use these materials to create something transformative,” Alvarez says.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

The intent, he says, is to show people there are unexpected possibilities in the cast-off materials that they themselves can create with, and also, to get them to think about how these materials came to be abandoned and at what cost to the environment around us.

“Commerce knows no borders,” says Alvarez.

Some of Alvarez’s most striking pieces, such as “Contained Populations” are smaller, yet dynamic sculptures built up from Styrofoam, cardboard, and other found material, often encasing small panels of inked designs that look like a lost writing system.

While much of his 3d work is in black and white, his flat pieces are intricately detailed drawings pulling from Alvarez’s architectural experiences. The pen work in sepia ink, graphite, and additional colors is finely rendered- again creating precise imagery that hints at an abandoned civilization and a forgotten writing system, not unlike the Aztec and Mayan codices.

These pieces stand in sharp contrast to the sculptural works, not only because the materials are different, but because the sculptural pieces remind the viewer that while the materials used in them may take 10 centuries to break down, the societies hinted at in the drawings have already been forgotten and rendered nameless.

Much of his installation work is dark, painted as dark as rubber, with small elements like carved discarded Styrofoam, or graphic elements that look like messages from a long-departed culture built into the base material, turning the piece into an intricate 3d sculpture.

Some of his newer pieces include finally rendered designs in arresting sepia, which build on geometric shapes with invented graphics, again hinting at messages from another time.

The delicate precision of these pieces is breathtaking in their attention to detail and line and the graphics are often nested in circles and arches. that recall Greek and Moorish manuscripts.

“AbandonmenTissues” continues at the Casa de Flor Gallery in Bankers Hill, until December 15. (3334 Fifth Ave, San Diego, CA 92103)