Artist Name: Alena Ahrens
Residency Dates: April 2025
Born: 1979
Hometown: St. Louis, MO, USA
Lives & Works: St. Louis, MO and Lisbon, Portugal
URL: alenaahrens.com | Instagram @alenaahrens
Education:
2018 – PHD, University of Missouri – St. Louis, USA
2017 – MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA
Bio/Statement:
Alena Ahrens is a contemporary American-Asian artist based in St. Louis, MO, working between the USA and Portugal. Her interdisciplinary practice expands painting and text beyond the retinal and pictorial, transforming color and language into an active, spatial experience. Through arcs, paintings, and performance, she creates participatory encounters that explore perception, presence, and the fluid boundaries of space and form.
Her dissertation research developed a methodology that examines the intersection of space, shape, time, affect, embodiment, and narrative through contemplative practices to foster connection and empathy. Building on this foundation, her current work engages with the traditions of color field painting, expanding upon its lineage through a socio-cultural lens. She also experiments various modes of performance and writing to expand the material and temporal dimensions of embodiment and perceptual experience.
Alena 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.
