Irina Alimanestianu is an American painter living in Southampton, NY. She received an MBA from Columbia University, NY, in 1989 and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University, CA, in 1998. She was raised in Switzerland, France, and New York.
Irina has a painting practice of thirty-five years, twenty-five years of which were based in Venice, CA. Environment and body memory are central to her practice. The vibrational tones of landscape, object, and personal history come forth in her imagery. She paints, draws and collages. Her style has evolved from representational to abstraction, now including a mix thereof.
Her work has been shown in the USA and Europe. Shows include LA Current at the Hammer Museum in 1998 in Los Angeles, CA, Artists Choose Artists in 2019, chosen by Alexis Rockman, at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY. David Pagel, art critic and educator presented her paintings in a traveling exhibition New American Talent in 2000 – 2001which included The Jones Center for Contemporary Art in Austin, TX. Solo shows include Solo at Kravets/Wehby in NY, NY in 1999 and Strands, Threads, Metabolic Meditations at MM Fine Art Gallery in Southampton, NY in 2021.
Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary in Vienna, Austria, the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY, and the Pomona College Museum of Art in Pomona, CA. She wrote for Art Issues Magazine in 1998 and 1999.
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My work aims to dismantle the illusion of human dominion. I wish to reveal and honor the delicate balance that sustains life and to recognize the shared energy that animates all things.
Inspired by tangible forms of landscape and the intangible essence of myth, I paint to capture the life forces that shape our existence, mapping the unseen connections between ourselves and the natural world. The inexplicable nonverbal language of frequencies that weaves through intention, action, and nature is a driving force in my work.
Through a process of layering and erasure, I build images that are sensory mappings of energy - visual diaries of environment, mood, memory, and the eons of evolution stored within us. Each work becomes a living portrait of time and place, working to capture the intelligence of nature and the everchanging essence of a moment.
My hope with this work is to encourage the viewer to allow the boundaries between self and nature to dissolve, revealing the shared pulse that unites all.”
Irina Alimanestianu
2025_07_2