Alexander Shchurenkov

Lives and works in New York, USA

Artist statement

Alexander Shchurenkov’s practice engages with the emotional and political realities of queer life across borders—shaped by a personal history in Russia and a present lived in the United States. Born into a society where LGBTQIA+ visibility once seemed possible, the artist witnessed that brief window close with alarming speed. Today, with anti-queer rhetoric and legislation rising globally—including in the U.S.—their work responds to a growing sense of déjà vu, urgency, and resistance. Through sculpture and installation, Alexander Shchurenkov explores the quieter, often overlooked terrain of queer existence: isolation, addiction, displacement, and the fragile process of self-preservation. Their use of material and form challenges popular representations of queer identity, resisting the glossy narratives in favor of deeper, more complicated truths. Familiar codes and clichés are not simply cited but questioned, destabilized, and reimagined. Central to this practice is the idea that safety is not a given, and that for many queer people, “home” is something built—not found. It must be assembled piece by piece, sometimes far from where one began, often in defiance of the systems that seek to erase it. Alexander Shchurenkov’s work offers a space to reflect on that ongoing construction: of identity, of memory, and of survival.

Artwork