American sculptor Michael Alfano has been sculpting for over fifteen years. A native of New York, he now lives and works in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. His major influences are Salvador Dali, Jo Davidson, and Jean-Antoine Houdon, as well as Buddhist, Taoist, Sufi and other eastern philosophy and literature. He first studied at the Art Students League of New York, with an emphasis on life-size sculpture from the model. His formal education continued at Boston University and was augmented by internships with several prominent sculptors.

Brazilian top model Gisele Bundchen poses before a fashion show by German designer Karl Lagerfeld as part of his latest inter-seasonal Cruise collection for fashion house Chanel at the Paseo del Prado street in Havana, Cuba, May 3, 2016. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

A picture taken on August 7, 2017 shows a Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) at the NABU center (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union), a German organization that aims at reintroducing the panther and fighting against poaching, near the Issyk Kul lake, in the outskirts of Semenovka village, some 330 kilometers southeast of Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. (Photo by Vyacheslav Oseledko/AFP Photo)

A delegate dressed in a furry Lion costume walks across a Zebra crossing to the convention centre at the Eurofurence convention in Berlin on August 17, 2017. Some 2700 delegates are taking part in the 3-day-long Eurofurence in the German capital, the worlds oldest active Furry-convention for people dressing up in furry costumes. (Photo by Odd Andersen/AFP Photo)

A young visitor interacts with a baby hippopotamus swimming in its enclosure at the Berlin Zoo on January 1, 2018. Tourists and locals flocked to the zoo in the German capital on the unseasonably warm first day of the year. (Photo by Odd Andersen/AFP Photo)

Dancers perform during a general rehearsal of “Kreatur” (Creature) by German choreographer Sasha Waltz in collaboration with artist and fashion designer Iris van Herpen and light designer Urs Schoenebaum in Berlin, Germany on June 8, 2017. (Photo by Stefanie Loos/Reuters)

Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) Police Officer Keith Flood trains with his K-9 partner Doc, a German Shepherd, inside the “warehouse room” at the new MTA Police Department Canine Training Center in Stormville, New York, U.S., June 6, 2016. (Photo by Mike Segar/Reuters)

Members of the Bavarian police and the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, guard a vehicle checkpoint as they demonstrate a dynamic operation as part of the GETEX anti-terror exercises during a media event on March 9, 2017 in Murnau, Germany. (Photo by Philipp Guelland/Getty Images)