Born on a wheat farm in Romania, Alexa Kelemen was involved in the field work alongside her parents from a very young age. Kelemen cites this early introduction to the natural world as one of the major forces in her life. When she was six years old, she started drawing the farm with pastels exposing an inborn talent and instinctive style that has been with her throughout her life. Kelemen graduated from the Institute of Art in Constanta in 1965, where she focused on realist landscape and abstract figural painting. After this extensive education, and exhibits throughout Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, Kelemen felt the urge to revisit the landscapes of her youth with a ‘fresh, modernist eye.’ Kelemen accompanied this revisitation with continued study at the School of Popular Art, focusing on still lifes and other styles, in which she melds the familiar and the novel with a talented hand.

Kelemen moved to the United States in 1986 and has been as well received here as she is in her home country. She exhibits her work in Atlanta and New York City and her paintings can be found in collections across the country.