About the Artist

Alyson Petruncio is a self-taught surrealist artist based in Northern Virginia. She began her artistic career with commissioned portraits from 2018 to 2020 but grew disillusioned with the constraints of realism and the pressures of commissioned work. This led her to step away and develop her own artistic style.

Alyson's work delves into her personal experiences with social anxiety and MDD. Expression of such illnesses more often unseen and unheard contrasts the more intentional emphasis on emotional superficiality in each piece. Her style features distorted facial features, ambiguous emotional expressions, liminal landscapes, and vibrant colors to explore themes of superficiality, uncertainty, and loneliness. 

Inspired by suburban satires like Greener Grass and unsettling horror films such as Funny Games, Alyson’s art critiques societal norms and explores the emptiness of the American dream. Through her pieces, she offers up an authentic perspective on mental health and the spectrum of acceptable emotional expression.