Carlos Alfonzo lived in the United States for just one decade. He was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1950, but as a young man grew frustrated by the politics and homophobia of his country. He moved to America in 1980, in the Mariel boatlift—a mass emigration of Cubans to Miami. Alfonzo settled in the city and his neo-impressionist paintings quickly developed a following. As his artistic career was lifting off, he contracted HIV. New motifs found their way into his work—pierced tongues, spirals, teardrops—while he fought his illness quietly. In February of 1991, Alfonzo died from AIDS-related complications. The exhibition at the ICA Miami contains more than a dozen works made during the last year of his life. —Jensen Davis