Hi! I'm Alena [a-liO-na], a figurative artist who captures the every day stories of our time and place through painting
Background
Alena Gastaldi is a Russian-born artist based in Luxembourg. She works across drawing, painting, and printmaking, with a practice rooted in plein air observation and figurative work.
Her background in architecture, restoration of architectural heritage, and narrative-driven interior design informs her understanding of space as shaped by human presence, memory, and use. As part of a conceptual design team, she developed narrative-driven interior concepts for international clients, working across architecture, storytelling, and collaboration with artists. This experience continues to inform her approach to space as a constructed and meaning-bearing environment. Academic training in drawing, painting, sculpture, and composition formed a significant part of her six-year architectural studies in Kostroma, Russia, and continues to underpin her work.
(photo by Jenya Barrat)
She has taught sketching as a visiting lecturer at the British Higher School of Art and Design in Moscow and privately, and after moving to Singapore, for 8 years have led workshops internationally, focusing on depicting stories of places and communities via drawing on location.
Since becoming a full-time artist in 2022, she have continued her training through focused independent study. Alena spent a year studying a design-driven approach to painting with the watercolour artist Thomas M. Schaller and is a regular student at Studio Escalier in France, where she studies figure painting under Nicole Michelle Tully and Tobias M. Hall. She is also currently studying gravure at Atelier Empreinte in Luxembourg.
Gastaldi's work is regularly exhibited. In 2026, she received a Mention and the Sennelier Prize at Art Capital, Paris, where she exhibited with the Salon des Artistes Français. She regularly participate in plein air competitions in Ireland, where her work has been recognised by juries and peers.
Work
Since her background is rooted in architecture, restoration of architectural heritage, and narrative-driven interior design, these disciplines inform her understanding of space as something shaped not only by structure, but by human presence, memory, and use.
(Photo by Valentina Conchie)
Alena's experience in interior design has been particularly formative, as she approaches the notion of the “interior” not only as a physical space, but as something closely tied to internal processes - our attitudes, sensibilities, and the ways in which people shape and respond to their environment. This perspective continues to influence how she observes and interprets spaces, as well as how she understands the relationship between identity and place.
Alena Gastaldi has built her practice around working on location, using plein air painting as a way of observing and engaging directly with the environments and communities she depicts. Rooted in the rigorous tradition of Russian academic training, the craft of painting has always been central to her work. Over time, however, the emphasis has shifted - from technical execution towards the narratives embedded within the scenes she observes.
Her recent work reflects a growing focus on reduction and clarity, both in visual language and process. By limiting palette, materials, and detail, she aims to distil observed reality into its essential elements.
Alena is increasingly incorporating printmaking and drawing as expanded approaches to image-making. Drawing on techniques related to her architectural training, such as black and white graphic work, ink, and stencilling, she reworks and simplifies images to distill their meaning into a clearer message. These processes introduce a slower, more analytical approach to creation, requiring translation of observed scenes into line, tone, and structure, thus moving between immediacy and reflection.
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