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The Artist
My story
Hello! I am Elena, a contemporary artist based in Monza, Italy.
I studied to be a linguist. However, I eventually ended up working for almost 20 years in business, including such corporations as Mars Inc. and Nike.
Working across 61+ countries and 5 industries gave me lots of knowledge and skills, but I did not feel complete. I added a certification in intercultural communication to the list and changed several hobbies starting from neuroscience and psychology and ending with programming and it was not enough. ASD diagnosis at the age of 39 came as a blast and as the last drop that made me understand that something should be changed.
I took a decision to change my life 180 degrees. I left my business path, changed my country of living (moved from the Netherlands to Italy), and made a dramatic shift from commerce to creativity.
I started studying everything I could to do with art…the foundations, abstraction, realism, colour theory, and everything in between and I am still looking for a place where I would feel at home as an artist.
I draw inspiration from the wealth of experience and travel that have composed the defining moments in my life. I lived and worked in Russia, the Netherlands, and Italy. I worked with people from and traveled across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the US. Every location has opened up unique, life-changing, and honest portraits of life. These experiences showcase themselves as uncountable colors and shapes, creating diverse and plentiful networks of unfiltered, often contrasting emotional responses. What else inspires me? Music, languages, philosophy, neuroscience, maths, history, events, nature, thinking process, and many other things that I discover on my way.
Exhibitions
2023 - International Contemporary Art Fair, Paris, France
2023 - Collective show at Van Gogh Art Gallery, Madrid, Spain
Collections
Works held in private collections in Italy, Switzerland, Netherlands, The UK.
Relevant Education
2022 onwards study Painting under:
- Kristina Brilkova
- Louise Fletcher
- Tim Packer
- Sterling Edwards
- Upcoming - CVP by Nicholas Wilton
What I paint...
Artist Statement
As an artist, I explore the world as I see it myself, through my unique lens. I know that it is not typical, and by projecting it onto an accessible visual image, I strive to show the viewer that there exists a Different perception. In my artistic practice, I strive to highlight not only cultural differences but also neurodiversity. I want to remind any human that he/she is not a conventional unit.
Painting helps me reveal unexpected facets of reality – those that are difficult and sometimes scary to talk about. When working with visual material, I focus on images of correlations, and emotional events, trying to penetrate with my gaze into the existential depths of human essence, nature, and urban landscapes. For several reasons, I intentionally don't paint figures of people.
I am no stranger to working with aesthetic issues, with the deceptiveness of beauty. I look for contrasts in visual material that emphasize the ambiguity of the intonations and signs with which reality addresses a human being. My recent work consists of mid-scale and small-scale abstracts on canvas alongside smaller more intricate studies on paper. My aesthetic is mostly made up of dark weighty tones and occasional use of handcrafted collage papers bringing depth and distance to the canvas. I apply shapes, colours, value contrast, the breakup of space, and mark-making as compositional tools to create mystery and intrigue that are designed to engage the viewers' imagination and provoke thoughts as their eyes wander over the canvas.
Why I paint...
I'm an observer. In my works, I strive to express what I see myself - namely, degradation, fatigue of culture, and a blinded human who, with each new step, moves further and further away from his personal experience and existence as such. My intention is to encourage the viewers to open their eyes, feel, and remember how they see the world - without imposed optics, without conventions. A world in which everyone finds reflections of themselves.