north carolina artist al torres is considered to be one of the only artists in the united states to continue on in the painting genre started by yaacov agam, torres has taken on the challenge to proceed further in this style. he is doing this in a representational manner. the visual effect in this genre of painting, is perceived as movement. revealing and concealing at the spectator’s pace. incredibly, he paints directly onto the painting surface, which are aluminum angles, at 45 degrees. torres is a full-time professional artist who received his mfa in painting from the new york academy of art (cum laude). he trained with renowned realists’ artists such as steven assael and vincent desiderio. torres was the head studio assistant for the nationally known portrait painter sharon sprung for seven years at the art students league of new york. his work has been exhibited in venues such as the gaston county museum, dallas, nc, the cape cod museum of art, cape cod, ma., the katonah museum of art, katonah, ny, the reading public museum, reading, pa, the queens museum of art, nyc, the mint museum of art, charlotte, nc, flushing town hall, nyc (a smithsonian institution affiliate) and sotheby's auction house, nyc. he won a 2018 mecklenburg regional artist grant and an asc artist support grant in 2023. that same year he had a one-person exhibition at the hickory museum of art in hickory, nc. he is an art professor at central piedmont community college in charlotte, nc. torres paints nearly every day in his art studio in huntersville. nc.