Elba Alvarez was born in Pedernales, Venezuela in 1944. At the age of 18 she went to Europe and studied in Paris. She came to the United States in 1968 carrying the ideas and visions which would fill her canvases with bold, striking colors. The paintings that Alvarez created caused gallery after gallery to lavish high praise for her innovative and provocative abstracts. She was encouraged to set up a studio in New York City. Through years of study and experimentation her talents have evolved into a highly unique and engrossing style of painting.