Alina Hermann was born 1987 and is a full-time artist living and working in Southern Germany. She creates abstract mixed media paintings, but also figurative paintings, mostly depicting women in surreal scenes. After working in the pharmaceutical industry for several years, she found her way back to art in late 2021, inspired by an art retreat in Scotland. She is currently in an online art program at the Milan Art Institute in the U.S., which she will complete in the sum-mer of 2023. At the end of 2022 she was already able to show her art for the first time in a group exhibition (Zucker e.V., Darmstadt, Germany). Using collage, palette knife textures, markers, and other tools to create contrasts in a painting really excites me. The process of creating an abstract piece is largely intuitive and starts with layering a lot of thin layers of paint, followed by seeing and further elaborating on shapes, patterns, lines, and symbols. It´s about finding the balance between chaos and calm, excitement and relaxation. And so is the process, it consists of quick steps followed by labor intensive detail work. As an artist, one can dream and give visual expression to those dreams. My figurative work deals with the idea of freedom. The freedom to create scenes that seem to take place in another world, but also freedom that is transported by the subject itself. This is closely related to my own values of living a life of freedom and ad-venture, that is an inspiring journey everyday.