Alyssa Stevens Year 25: the return inward

the return inward represents the contrasting aesthetic and emotion behind my art.

At first glance, my art visually embodies an idealistic view of childhood through primary colors and imperfect, abstract figures. My style emanates the freedom and simplicity of youth that I am constantly trying to reconnect with in myself.

But beyond the pure, child-like aspect of my style exists a deep, hidden loneliness that I carried with me from a young age. My abstract self-portraits represent the contrasting emotions of isolation and connection, confusion and inner-knowing, limitation and expansiveness; pieces of me that overlap and co-exist.

While much of my creative process is inspired by pain, there is beauty reflected in it. An understanding of what life can be; the freedom and power you hold; the beauty and meaning found within the vast insignificance of it all. This is the return inward.