According to art critic Randy Kennedy, Altfest is known for her "painstakingly labor-intensive canvases that look at things in the world.
The previously mentioned Tree, an oil on canvas, is approximately the size of a piece of typing paper.
[5][6][7] In 2007, London's White Cube gallery held a solo exhibition of her work which included the first extensive series of paintings of men.
Her work has featured in several prominent exhibitions, including "The Leg" at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas in 2010, "Head and Plant" at the New Museum in New York in 2012,[8] "The Encyclopedic Palace" at the Venice Biennale in 2013, and a survey exhibition at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom in 2015.
Altfest's influences include Albrecht Dürer's The Large Turf, Jackson Pollock, Sylvia Sleigh, and Lucian Freud.