Alfonso Ossorio - Surrealism and Abstract Expressionism

Alfonso Angel Yangco Ossorio (1916 –1990) was an Filipino American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Manila in 1916 to wealthy Filipino parents from the province of Negros Occidental. His heritage was Hispanic, Filipino, and Chinese. Between the ages of eight and thirteen, he attended school in England. At age fourteen, he moved to the United States. Ossorio attended Portsmouth Priory (now Portsmouth Abbey School) in Rhode Island, graduating in 1934. From 1934 to 1938, he studied fine art at Harvard University and then continued his studies at the Rhode Island School of Design. He became an American citizen in 1933 and served as a medical illustrator in the United States Army during World War II.Wikipedia
"Alfonso Ossorio synthesized Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Art Brut styles over the course of his career. His early works were inspired by Surrealism, although he created these paintings by pouring oil and enamel paint onto canvas—a technique aligned with abstract expressionist art. A meeting with Jean Dubuffet sparked Ossorio’s interest in Art Brut, as he was drawn to the form’s shedding of fine art preconceptions. Ossorio’s career is marked by an oscillation between the influences of Jackson Pollock and Dubuffet—both of whom the artist was friends with—and experimentation with abstraction and figuration. “Congregations,” a series of Dubuffet-inspired assemblages, evoke a Catholic spirit and decorative energy that is characteristic of Ossorio’s paintings."(.artsy.net)