Alexandra Lane Ries (b. 1996; Atlanta, GA) creates painted portals of transition and transformation, harnessing medium and shape to provide a pathway between corporeal and metaphorical realms of being. Raised by a family of female, Jewish artists, Ries furthers a resilient lineage of creatives through her paintings, which explore concepts of place and presence through recurrent visual and literary symbols. Having navigated tragedy, death, and destruction across various chapters of her life, Ries finds a level of comfort in the contemplation of what might exist between our physical presence and another, alternate realm. Aspiring to challenge the physical boundaries of the traditional painting practice, Ries creates canvases using nontraditional supports, building custom arched panels to produce large-scale, multi-panel paintings in the shape of ellipses and circles which serve as alchemical portals of transformation.

Complementary to her painting practice, Ries actively conducts research in arenas such as alchemy, surrealist poetry, atmospheric phenomena, and other artists’ works, namely the paintings and writings of Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo. Her practice is an exploration of the investigation in modes of communication that convey the potential for extraordinary moments of transcendental activity and experiences. She considers her work to be a place evoking a mysterious fluidity, like a shifting labyrinth.

Ries received her BFA in Sculpture and Ceramics at Augusta University in 2018. After several years working three-dimensionally across soft sculpture, ceramics and resin casting in a rural town in Georgia, Ries returned to Atlanta to focus on her painting practice in 2021. In 2024, Ries moved to Brooklyn, New York, where she is currently pursuing her MFA in Painting from Brooklyn College.