Anastasia Pelias

She survived, but her heart broke into a thousand pieces and drifted out to sea

2025

Anastasia Pelias was born in New Orleans, LA to Greek parents. Her artistic practice is rooted in the dual cultural identity of both her native and ancestral roots in New Orleans, LA and Skopelos, Greece. Blending the vibrant, compassionate nature of a New Orleanian with her weighty Greek heritage, Pelias creates work that is rich with personal depth of emotion and the spirit of exploration. Through a nuanced interpretation of paint, color, marks and ritual objects, Pelias unapologetically explores the overarching subjects of life, death, love, sex and the female experience. An abstractionist in the truest form, Pelias’ work reflects a seriousness and dedication to the traditional principles of painting, both the concept and the actuality. Pelias received her BFA from the Newcomb College of Tulane University in 1981 and her MFA from the University of New Orleans in 1996. She has exhibited her work in 16 solo and numerous group exhibitions at venues nationwide, including Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, Heriard-Cimino Gallery, the Pensacola Museum of Art, the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, American University (Washington D.C.), Proteus Gowanus (Brooklyn, NY) and the Louisiana State University Museum of Art, and has been featured in publications including Pelican Bomb, Hyperallergic, New American Paintings, New Orleans Art Review and Louisiana Aesthetic. Her works appear in public collections at the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the Mobile Museum of Art, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (Commack, NY,) and in private collections throughout the United States and worldwide, in England, Belgium, Greece, Saudi Arabia and China.