“Ascending #2” 2014, from Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A).

You won’t forget the art of Jose Alvarez once you see it. To call his large-scale paintings colorful, or vibrating, would be a vast under-estimation. These whimsical, magical creations, in extraordinarily bright colorings, resemble tapestries, abstract but with imagery that conjures mandalas, sea creatures, molecules.

These pieces, made from ink, resin, watercolors, feathers and quills to name some of the materials, have been shown in museums including the Kemper Museum in Kansas City and West Palm Beach’s The Norton. The Broward resident has also been featured in the Whitney Biennial.

But his other-worldly creations that make up “As Far as the I Can See” at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood only tell part of his story. He is a character as hypnotic as his art – and hypnotism actually plays a role.

His partner is James Randi, a famous magician known as The Amazing Randi and also a magic skeptic, who first appeared on American television in the 1950s as an escape artist rivaling Houdini, but later made it a mission to debunk so-called paranormal and psychic powers. A just-released documentary about Randi, An Honest Liar, will be screened as part of the exhibit next month.

So it should be no surprise that Alvarez is interested in scientific exploration, in optics, in illusion – and illusionary performance.

Alvarez created a persona named Carlos, supposedly a 2,000 year-old Peruvian shaman reincarnated, and took Carlos on the road across the globe for over a decade, “appearing” to international audiences, and inspiring him to start including materials such as feathers and porcupine quills into his paintings and collages.

“The Golden Butterfly #2” 2014 from Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A).

Oh, and Carlos isn’t his only other name. He was born in Venezuela as Deyvi Orangel Pena Arteaga (D.O.P.A as an acronym that he uses). How he turned into Alvarez got him into trouble with immigration authorities here in the U.S., and he was convicted of stealing an identity. Talk about illusion: what is and what isn’t, what we think we can see and what we really don’t are part of Alvarez’s creations (and the title becomes clearer).

You don’t need to know the back story to be engulfed in his art work, but it makes it more interesting and fun.

“Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A): As Far As the I Can See” runs through May 24 at the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood, 1650 Harrison St., Hollywood; 954-921-3274; www.artandculturecenter.org.