“With my paintings, I seek to capture the bittersweet mundane-ness of life while juxtaposing the dull emotions with bright colors and surrealist shapes.
The electric palette or funky line work may draw you in, just to have the viewer quickly realize that whatever is going on within them isn’t fun, bright, or exciting.
In a world where things are constantly moving, changing, and shapeshifting, I like to slow it down- reflecting on emotion moment by moment. In that I recognize I am melting, we are melting.
If you break it down- melting on a literal level is usually an agonizingly slow process and when it’s over, whatever was melting isn’t the same again. Melting is oddly a way of being, and this is a metaphor that transcends my work.
While the themes are rooted in sadness, melting also signifies a sliver of hope. Ultimately when something has melted it’s not destroyed, just different. Being melted doesn’t mean being completely gone. It isn’t an abrupt, abrasive metaphor like an explosion that leaves you in smithereens. It’s about slowly losing yourself until you can dull the flame, get out of the heat, or until the lighter stops being held to your head.”
Alena is a self-taught painter from Brooklyn, New York. See more of her work on Instagram.
