Visit with Alex Proba

Alex Proba is a multidisciplinary artist and designer whose work memorializes the splendor of the commonplace through graphic abstraction, transforming the everyday into eye-catching fields of color and form. Go behind the scenes of her latest exhibition, Subterranean Murmur, below.

In Proba's works, intuition’s guiding words are akin to that of a familiar familial voice. She takes inspiration from her babcia (Polish for “grandmother”), who fled communist Poland and her career as a florist, but never lost her love of horticulture. Proba’s babcia maintained an elaborate garden where she spent many afternoons painting as a child; these formative experiences influenced Proba’s choice to become an artist and designer.

This piece is based on my grandmother's love for plants. Here she is exploring them in Hawaii.

Alex Proba

Each of the paintings in this series is inflected with memories of moments they spent together - the pattern she wore, the garden she tended, the meals she cooked. Through her abundantly ornamented paintings, freeform canvases, and plump sculptures, Proba pays homage to her babcia.

This painting is based on my childhood in a nutshell. Every day with grandma in our garden. Surrounded by her favorite flowers, roses.

Alex Proba

In Subterranean Murmur, Proba’s works speak to a practice borne from osmosis, of letting intuition guide and serve as a means to organize, extrapolate, and process the internal and external experience.

This piece is based on my first day of high school (grade 5, in Germany).

Alex Proba