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.

Model Adriana Sklenarikova Karembeu presents new “Pikolino” shoes at El Corte Ingles store on April 1, 2011 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

Bullfighter Julian Lopez “El Juli” of Spain performs during the second bullfight of the 2011 season at the Monumental bullring on July 10, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. This will be the last year for Bull fighting at the Monumental bullring as the parliament of Catalonia has voted to ban bullfighting as of January 1, 2012. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

A boy walks past boats docked at the entrance gate of the fishermen's village in the El Max area of the Mediterranean city of Alexandria September 12, 2014. El Max, where hundreds of boats dart through the canals, has been called the “Venice of Egypt” for its waterways and relaxed atmosphere. Its fishermen, however, worry about how they will make ends meet on meagre earnings they say are being reduced further by polluted waters that are making fishing more difficult. While the government has tried to fix the state's bloated finances by cutting subsidies and reining in spending, some argue the reforms hurt Egypt's most vulnerable who have long relied on a generous system of fuel and food subsidies to supplement low incomes. (Photo by Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

Mohammed El-Dahshan, 38-year-old “Mesaharati”, or dawn caller, accompanies his donkey wrapped with colored led lights to wake Muslims up for a meal before sunrise, during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, in the Delta city of Dikernis, about 93 miles (150 km) North of Cairo, Egypt early Wednesday, April 12, 2023. Each night, El-Dahshan, sets out after midnight with his donkey banging his drum, chanting traditional religious phrases and calling out on residents by name to wake them in time for the vital pre-dawn meal known as “Suhour”. (Photo by Amr Nabil/AP Photo)

Spanish bullfighter Manuel Jesus “El Cid” is seen through a small window of a door as he performs a pass to a heifer during a “tentadero” (a small bullfight to check the bravery of calves and heifers which are not killed) during the first International Biennial of bullfighting at Reservatauro Ronda cattle ranch in Ronda, near Malaga February 17, 2013. Spain's parliament voted last Tuesday to consider protecting bullfighting as a national pastime, angering animal rights campaigners and politicians in two regions where the sport is banned. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

In this November 7, 2016 photo, “El Menor”, a member of “Los Cainos” self-defense group formed by the Marval fishing family, holds a homemade gun before starting a night patrol to help protect fishermen from pirate attacks in Punta de Araya, Sucre state, Venezuela. Pirates are terrorizing the coastal state of Sucre, once home to the world's fourth-largest tuna fleet and a thriving fishing industry. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

Nubian women sell traditional handicrafts at the Nubian Gharb Suheil village, near Aswan south of Egypt, October 1, 2015. For half a century, Egypt's Nubians have patiently lobbied the government in Cairo for a return to their homelands on the banks of the upper Nile, desperate to reclaim territory their ancestors first cultivated 3,000 years ago. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)