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Louis Buhl & Co. pleased to present our first edition with artist Tiffany Alfonseca, titled La Negra Tiene Tumbao. Tiffany Alfonseca is a Bronx- based Dominican-American mixed media artist who creates vibrant and colorful artworks that celebrate Black and Afro-Latinx diasporic culture. Alfonseca continuously taps into her Afro-Dominican roots and leverages it as a conceptual cantilever that provides a dynamic framework for her artistic practice. Her work aims to visually articulate that the Black and Afro-Latinx diaspora does not exist within a monolith, but that these communities are a cultural cornucopia that is vast, varied, and complex. 

While analyzing questions of identity and race, Alfonseca depicts subjects that are strong, graceful, and exuding agency in a world that wants to deny their existence. La Negra Tiene Tumbao is no exception; created in homage to the late Cuban salsa singer Celia Cruz, the body of work paints the subject in a striking, beautiful, and confident manner. Utilizing bold colors and intricate textures — common signifiers of the artist’s practice — Alfonseca honors Celia’s experience as a Black and Afro-Latinx woman in a way that is declarative and reassuring. When you consider a history where Black and Brown bodies are constantly on guard, Alfonseca’s work serves as a safe space teeming with beauty and joy.

“It’s very important for me to incorporate Afro-Latino culture into my work. Growing up, I was never taught about it, and I didn’t see it represented in paintings or drawings. I want to develop an artistic body of work with the next generations in mind and provide them with something where they can see themselves, and that they can relate to.” — Tiffany Alfonseca