Work samples
About Alex

Alex Ebstein is a Baltimore based artist and curator. She makes mixed media, tactile abstractions using found, readymade, and traditional materials, most notably yoga mats. Her work borrows materials used in gym equipment, yoga, and dance studios, and DIY construction projects to examine the tropes of self-help, wellness, boutique fitness trends, and the white cube. Her recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Current Space, Baltimore; Victori + Mo… more
2024
Over the past ten years, my work has centered on creating paintings and installations that examine society’s relentless pursuit of perfection and personal transformation—especially in the worlds of fitness, wellness, and self-help. I incorporate yoga mats, wood, and aluminum alongside traditional painting materials, constructing layered, tactile abstractions that blur the boundaries between fine art and cultural commentary.
These pieces combine parody, nostalgia, and internal pressures, drawing from the synthetic colors and sleek forms of modernist motifs and pop culture. The yoga mat, both flexible and symbolic, shifts between being a material and a metaphor—a stand-in for the body, shaped and manipulated to reflect our aspirations and anxieties. Through carefully collaged surfaces and textures, my work questions the authenticity of elite spaces of wellness culture: boutique studios, serene retreats, and curated social media feeds. Organic shapes interwoven with sleek, synthetic surfaces offer a meditation on the interplay between the natural and the artificial, and selective representation.
This year marks a shift in my practice. Returning to earlier techniques like printmaking, sculptural methods, and shaped wood supports, I’ve embraced a lighter, more experimental touch, letting process guide the outcome, deconstructing materials and exploring new ways to reconstitute and build compositions. While my interest in the visual cues of socioeconomic strata, both digital and in real spaces persists, I’m now leaning into more playful, materially adventurous approaches that allow the work to breathe and evolve, making room for slippages and grit. Looser sketches start the process, and discovery and surprise dictate final form.
By engaging with the visual language of wellness, technology, and design, my work invites viewers to reflect on the cultural pressures and aspirations that shape our lives—and to question where they might see themselves within these spaces, and the fissures that run between perception and reality.
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Placebo Effect at Current
Placebo Effect
Current Space
2024
Installation Image -
Puzzle Pieces (infinity)
Puzzle Pieces (infinity)
Yoga Mats, Acrylic, Enamel, Twine, Pony Beads
14 x 11 In
2024 -
Center Ring / Interior Set
Yoga Mats, Glazed Ceramics, Grout, Wood, Beads, Twine, Metal and Acrylic on Panel
14 x 11 in
2024 -
Virtual Hall
Virtual Hall
Yoga Mats, Wood, Paper Pulp, Acrylic, Enamel, Twine and Glazed Ceramics
20 x 16 in
2024 -
Untitled (Nose Job)
Untitled (Nose Job)
Acrylic, Twine, Yoga Mats, Wood, Paper Pulp, Glazed Ceramic, Chain, and Wire on Wood Panel
18 x 14in
2024 -
Stargazer
Stargazer
Yoga Mats, Acrylic, Embroidery Floss, Glazed Ceramic and Hardware on Panel
60 x 48in
2024 -
Tartan
Tartan
Yoga Mats, Acrylic, Twine, and Pony Beads on Wood Panel
20 x 16 in
2024 -
Trawl
Trawl
Yoga Mats, Acrylic, Twine and Pony Beads on Wood Panel
20 x 16in
2024 -
Eyestorm
Eyestorm
Acrylic, Enamel, and Glazed Ceramic on Belgian Linen
20 x 16in
2024 -
Alt Windows 95
Alt Windows 95
Yoga Mats, Glazed Ceramics, and Hardware on Wood Panel
20 x 16in
2024
in custom painted frameAvailable for Purchaseavailable through artist's studio
Selected Works 2022 - 2023
Works made between 2022 and 2023 that explore aspiration, escape, travel and the aesthetics of self-care.
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SPF Profile
SPF Profile
yoga mats, powder coated aluminum, hardware, acrylic, and twine on panel
40 x 30 in
In the collection of OzArt NWA in Bentonville, AR
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Highrise Horizon
Highrise Horizon
Hand-Cut Yoga Mats, Twine, Aluminum, Enamel and Hardware on Wood Panel
30 x 40 in
In the collection of WeWork, Washington D.C.
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Glass House
Glass House
Hand-Cut Yoga Mats, Woven Twine, Powder-Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Wood Panel
30 x 40 in
In the collection of WeWork, Washington D.C.
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Untitled (Kiosk)
Untitled (kiosk signage)
Hand-Cut Yoga Mats on Wood Panel
30 x 40 in
In Private Collection
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Ritual
Ritual
2022
yoga mats on wood panel
20 x 16 in
Available for PurchaseAvailable through artist's studio
Dream Sellers 2020
Adapted from the exhibition's press release
Consider the life that’s sold to you—through cultural bias, gender stereotypes, and the relentless machinery of capitalism. The appearance of your home, the way you dress, your access to nature and beauty—these markers of success are interrogated in the works of Alex Ebstein and Amy Boone-McCreesh. Dream Sellers explores the pressures of societal expectations, peeling back the glossy veneer to reveal the complexities beneath.
Artists have long held mirrors to their worlds, and Ebstein and Boone-McCreesh do so with bold, tactile mixed-media works that examine the narratives shaping modern life. Body ideals, advertising tropes, slick retail displays, and domestic life are deconstructed to challenge assumptions about class, beauty, and the promise of upward mobility.
Alex Ebstein’s pieces, created in small series, continue her transformation of yoga mats and powder-coated metal into striking forms—eyes, curves, and limbs that teeter between the literal and the abstract. Much of her work, produced in a compact apartment studio since the onset of quarantine, reflects the contrast between ad-saturated virtual windows and the solitary routines of isolation. Shimmering surfaces, adorned with embroidery, acrylic, and other embellishments, evoke a collision of glamour and reality.
In this world mediated by social media, aspiration and intention mingle with dreamlike indulgence—part diary, part time capsule, part suspended reality. As the ways we connect are disrupted and redefined, the weight of societal pressures—female competition, health trends, beauty ideals—begins to dissolve. What remains are flimsy symbols, stripped of their power to divide, inviting us to reconsider what truly matters in our pursuit of success.
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Dream Sellers - InstallationInstallation view of Dream Sellers at Victori + Mo Gallery Summer 2020
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ShadowsHand-Cut Yoga Mats, Faux Eyelashes, Embroidery, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Panel In Custom Frame with glazing 36" x 24" 2020
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FigmentsHand-Cut Yoga Mats, Embroidery, Faux Eyelashes, Nylon, Acrylic, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Panel In Custom Frame under Glazing 36" x 24" 2020
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PhantomsHand-Cut PVC Yoga Mats, Faux Eye Lashes, Powder Coated Aluminum, Embroidery, Nylon and Hardware on Panel In Custom Frame with glazing 36" x 24" 2020
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Installation View 2 Dream SellersInstallation View of Dream Sellers at Victori + Mo Gallery Summer 2020
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Rooted Limb 1Yoga Mats, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Wood Panel 30" x 24" 2019
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Rooted Limb 2Yoga Mats, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Panel 30" x 24" 2019
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Rooted Limb 3Yoga Mats, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Panel 30" x 24" 2019
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Installation ViewDream Sellers - installation view 3 at Victori + Mo Gallery Summer 2020
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Beach BodYoga Mats and Acrylic Adhesive on Panel 40" x 30" 2019
Selected Works 2019 - 2021
Alex Ebstein makes mixed media, tactile, abstractions using found, readymade and traditional materials - most notably yoga mats. Her work borrows materials used in gym equipment, yoga and dance studios, and DIY construction projects to examine the tropes of self-help, wellness, the white cube and boutique fitness trends. These specific, aestheticized spaces imply the patronage of an elite clientele, projecting health, fitness and art as an often cost-prohibitive commodity. Ebstein uses lighthearted motifs as a counterbalance to the critical questions at the core of her work.
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Wave Crest / Future TideWave Crest / Future Tide Yoga Mats, Powder-Coated Aluminum and Hardware 30" x 40" 2021
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Cold Desert Wind / Breeze ConvergenceCold Desert Wind / Breeze Convergence Yoga Mats, Acrylic, Powder-Coated Aluminum and Hardware 30" x 40" 2021
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Dawn GlowDawn Glow Yoga Mats and Acrylic on Wood Panel 14" x 11" 2020
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CapsuleYoga Mats, Acrylic, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Panel 40" x 30" 2020
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ShimmerYoga mats and Acrylic on Wood Panel 16" x 12" 2020
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Scraps (Precious Objects)Yoga Mats and Acrylic on Panel 16" x 12" 2020
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Capsule 2Yoga Mats, Acrylic, Enamel, Aluminum and Hardware on Panel 40" x 30" 2020
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Collage ClubYoga Mats, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Panel 40" x 30" 2019
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Memory CanyonYoga Mats, acrylic, Powder Coated Aluminum and Hardware on Panel 40" x 30" 2021
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Untitled (Bay Tides)Aluminum, enamel and hardware 40" x 30" 2021
Fad Bodies
Works on Paper
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Vacation LimbsAcrylic Monoprint on Paper 12" x 9" 2018
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PeeringAcrylic Monoprint on Paper 12" x 9" 2018
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UntitledAcrylic, latex and yarn on paper 13.5" x 12" 2018
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New TerrainGouache, Acrylic and Embroidery on Paper 2018
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UntitledDrywall embroidered with Yarn, framed monoprint 48" x 48" 2019
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RitualsAcrylic, Gouache and Ink on Paper 12" x 9" 2018
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Dense PalmsAcrylic Monoprint on Paper 12" x 9" 2018
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Dream Vacation House Exterior/InteriorAcrylic and Gouache on Paper 12" x 9" each 2018