Statement

My paintings are abstract and also grounded by reference to the observable world as well as nonphysical realms. I live in the Southwest on an expansive mesa with few trees and wide-ranging views. The surrounding mountains, storms, and open skies are theatrical and majestic. Figures and natural landmarks appear as flattened silhouettes against burning sunsets. A sunset is an end of today, but also a promise of tomorrow, it holds within it a realm of possibilities.⁣

These elements deeply influence my compositions, which convey alternating negative and positive spaces: at times either a dark or light flat shape recedes into a void, a nothingness; at other times, it emerges to become the subject and gradients of colors become the background. Some shapes come close to touching; tension and longing are in the sliver of in-between space. The colorful gradients are a gradual dawning or dimming light source, an expansion, and a fleeting moment of time.

Bio

Aleya Hoerlein is a Taos-based contemporary artist. She was raised in Fairfield, Iowa, by a creative family in a spiritual community that practiced transcendence. She went on to study art at The School of Visual Arts, in New York City, where she painted the figure and landscape but her attention was rapt by the shadows behind the figure or the sky beyond the landscape. She shifted her focus to abstract painting that is grounded by both reference to nature and transcendence.

Hoerlein’s solo exhibition of abstract oil paintings, The Realm of Possibilities, was on view at the Encore Gallery at the Taos Center for the Arts October 13 through November 26, 2023. The exhibition included paintings from 2022 and 2023. The exhibition celebrated Northern New Mexico’s relationship with transcendental and abstract painting by showcasing Hoerlein’s contemporary, lucid rendering of the genres.

Hoerlein’s paintings have appeared in publications such as Southwest Contemporary, New American Paintings, I Like Your Work, The Brooklyn Rail, and Hyperallergic, and have been on view in group shows at The Taos Center for the Arts’ Stables Gallery, G2 Gallery in Santa Fe, NM, Site:Brooklyn Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, The Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, and The National Arts Club in New York, NY. Her paintings are held in private collections in New York, California, Tennessee, Minnesota, Washington, Montana, Arizona, and New Mexico.

As a co-founding member of the Taos Abstract Artist Collective (a collective of artists from Northern New Mexico), she enjoys collaborating with local museums and galleries to highlight contemporary art, while honoring the rich history of the arts in New Mexico and beyond.

To inquire about paintings, exhibitions, or gallery representation, email aleyahoerlein@gmail.com or DM @aleyahoerlein on Instagram.

Curriculum Vitae

Solo Exhibitions

UPCOMING SOLO (in progress, sign up for my newsletter for updates)
Ottumwa, IA, 2025
If Memory Serves You

ENCORE GALLERY / TAOS CENTER FOR THE ARTS,
Taos, NM, 2023
The Realm of Possibilities

View Series

Group Exhibitions

THE FAIRFIELD ART ASSOCIATION, Fairfield, IA, 2024
Everyday Geometry

THE VALLEY, Taos, NM, 2024
Earth Phase

View

STABLES GALLERY / TAOS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Taos, NM, 2023
Taos Cancer Support Services ‘Paint Taos Pink’ October Fundraiser

View

STABLES GALLERY / TAOS CENTER FOR THE ARTS, Taos, NM, 2022
Taos Abstract Artist Collective Inaugural Exhibition

View

G2 GALLERY, Santa Fe, NM, 2022
Summer Exhibition

FAR BY WIDE, Brooklyn, NY, 2022
Ukraine (Online Exhibition)

View

FAR BY WIDE, Brooklyn, NY, 2021
Threshold (Online Exhibition)

View

SITE:BROOKLYN GALLERY, Brooklyn, NY, 2021
Shape In All Its Forms (Online Exhibition)

View

ICON GALLERY, Fairfield, IA, 2005
Yellow Alchemy (Project Room)

BROOKLYN WATERFRONT ARTISTS COALITION,
Brooklyn, NY, 2004
Pier Show 12

EMERALD GALLERY, Fairfield, IA, 2004
3rd Annual Small Works Show

NATIONAL ARTS CLUB, New York, NY, 2003
21st Annual Student Exhibition

Publications

SOUTHWEST CONTEMPORARY MAGAZINE, Between Sky and Spirit: Aleya Hoerlein’s Voyage through Abstract Realms, Online June 12th, 2024

View

RHIZO MAGAZINE, Spring Equinox, Printed Magazine, 2023

NEW AMERICAN PAINTINGS, West Issue, No. 162, Printed Magazine, 2023

View

I LIKE YOUR WORK, At the Party, Summer Exhibition Catalog, 2022

View

THE BROOKLYN RAIL, On-the-Spot with Aleya Hoerlein, Weekend Journal, #113, Instagram Video,
Phong Bui and Elizabeth Lothian, July 10th, 2021

View

SOUTHWEST CONTEMPORARY MAGAZINE, Bodies//Boundaries, Volume 1/Spring 2021, Pages 54-55, Additionally Online February 8th, 2021

View

HYPERALLERGIC, A View From The Easel During Times Of Quarantine, Online 195th series installment, March 12th, 2021, Elisa Wouk Almino

View

JEN TOUGH GALLERY, Wild Lands, Printed Book, January, 2022

Artist Collective

TAOS ABSTRACT ARTIST COLLECTIVE (TAAC),
Taos, NM, 2020-Currently
Co-founding member, co-curator, and catalog designer

View Website
View Catalog Design
View Albuquerque Journal Article
View Taos News Article

Private Collections

My Paintings are held in Private Collections in:
New York, California, Tennessee, Washington, Montana, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Education

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, New York, NY, 2005–2008
BFA, Graphic Design

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, New York, NY, 2000–2002
Fine Arts Studies

SAVANNAH COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN, Savannah, GA, 1999–2000
Fine Arts Studies

MAHARISHI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY, Fairfield, IA, 1998–1999
Fine Arts Studies

Residencies

AN ARTIST RESIDENCY IN MOTHERHOOD, A self-directed, open-source artist residency to empower and inspire artists who are also mothers,
January-February, 2021

Art Intensives

NEW YORK ACADEMY OF ART, New York, NY, Summer 2001
Fine Arts

SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, New York, NY, Summer 2000 + 2002
Fine Arts

RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN, Providence, RI, Summer 1996
Fine Arts

QUEEN’S COLLEGE, Cambridge, England, Summer 1995
Art History + Shakespeare Studies

Professional Experience

KOSTABI WORLD STUDIO, New York, NY, 2000-2005
Studio production painter for artist Mark Kostabi
Studio production painter, live, on the set of the TV show Title This