Elena Alonso

Elena Alonso’s drawings and sculptures continually redefine their own formal limits, engaging with an ambiguous iconography that one feels refers to an underlying universe that we have somehow lost touch with. She cultivates a complex and uncertain terrain between geometric abstraction and organic representation, often alluding to the body. While utilising the languages of other disciplines such as architecture, design and handicraft, she liberates them from their inherent practical purpose. There is always a strange tension between the neatness of her work, the beauty of her compositions, and the uncertainty of explaining exactly what one sees. Perhaps it is this strange combination of harmony and paradox that creates an atmosphere that promotes something we could call tragic Platonism.

Born in 1981, Madrid, Spain, Elena Alonso lives and works in Madrid, Spain. She graduated with a degree in Fine Art from the Complutense University of Madrid. While still a student, she received grants that permitted her to round out her education at the Royal Institute of Art (Stockholm, 2004) and the University of Vigo (Pontevedra, 2005-2006). After graduation, she travelled to Helsinki to study at the Kuvataldeaketemia (2007) and later completed a master’s degree in Art, Creation and Research in Madrid (UCM, 2010).

Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Espacio Valverde (Fórmula, 2022); Galerie Fabian Lang (2020 & 2024); Matadero Madrid (Visita guiada, 2017); Espacio Valverde (Canto blando, 2016; Composición de lugar, 2014; La tapadera, 2012); Museo ABC (El espacio alrededor, 2015); Sala de Arte Joven de la Comunidad de Madrid, as part of the program 9 (un proyecto sobre dibujo contemporáneo, 2011); A.C. Mediodía Chica (Condiciones y efectos personales, 2010); and Cable Factory of Helsinki (Paredes de piel, 2007).

She has been awarded several distinctions and grants such as the prestigious Culture Award of the Madrid Community for Visual Art (2018), the El ARCO Community of Madrid Award for Young Artists (2018), GENERACIONES 2013 (2013), 23rd Circuitos de Artes Plásticas (2012) and Contemporary Creation Grant from Matadero Madrid (2011).