ABOUT
Alena Ahrens (1979) is a contemporary American-Asian artist based in St. Louis, MO, working between the USA and Portugal. Her interdisciplinary practice expands painting beyond the retinal and pictorial, transforming color into an active, spatial experience. Through sculptural color field arcs, paintings, and performance, she creates participatory encounters that explore perception, presence, and the fluid boundaries of space and form.
In her dissertation, Poetics of the Selves: An Active Aesthetic, she developed a methodology exploring the intersection of space, shape, time, affect, embodiment, and narrative with contemplative practices to foster connection and empathy. Her current work builds on this research, expanding into new perspectives on color field painting, as well as new modes of performance and writing.
Ahrens has exhibited in solo and group shows at the Zhou B. Art Center (Chicago, IL), Tipi Project (Brooklyn, NY), MoMA PS1 (New York, NY), DAMU Theatre (Prague, CZ), and ARTROOM (Lisbon, PT). She has participated in international residencies at Château Orquevaux (Orquevaux, FR), Hangar Arts (Lisbon, PT), and GEDOK (Stuttgart, DE). Her color field paintings have been acquired by the J.P. Morgan Chase Art Collection.
