Compositionally, I am painting the space in between and around forms, as much as the forms themselves.

The composition and shapes I use on the canvas convey negative and positive spaces that alternate: sometimes the dark color recedes into a void, a nothingness; at other times, the darkness emerges to become the subject and the gradients of colors become the background.

The gradients are a gradually dawning or dimming light source, an expansion, and a fleeting moment of time. Some shapes come close to touching but don’t; there are tension and longing in that sliver of space between them.

I work intuitively, painting the initial linework and shapes on muslin stretched over wood panels. During multiple reworkings, I fill in the shapes with colors, repainting everything in several layers and refining the edges as I go.

I often apply a blended gradient of bright and/or complementary colors, and a solid black made from a mix of deep blue and red oil paint. The resulting paintings evoke ambiguity and a realm of possibilities.

Aleya Hoerlein is a painter based in Taos, New Mexico. She graduated from The School of Visual Arts in New York City as a painting candidate and with a BFA in graphic design. Her work has appeared in publications such as New American Paintings, The Brooklyn Rail, Southwest Contemporary, Hyperallergic, and I Like Your Work. For the next year, she will have work on view at G2 Gallery in Santa Fe, NM and is a member of the Taos Abstract Artist Collective. Her work has been on view in group shows in New York City, as well as in her home state of Iowa. Before settling in Taos, NM, she lived in San Francisco, CA, New York, NY, Savannah, GA, and Fairfield, IA. Hoerlein’s paintings are held in private collections in New York, California, Tennessee, Washington, Montana, Arizona, and New Mexico.