From the Artist:

 

"Over the years, I’ve explored many themes and subjects, including landscape, cityscape, still life, and figure, in a variety of media. Like many artists, I have been inspired by the scenes and objects that presented themselves in front of me and was excited to represent to them in a fairly straightforward way. But if I look back at that body of work I see something else that consistently showed up – it seems that I’ve also been interested in responding to situations and issues life present to us in a more symbolic way.

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My ever-present interest in the human figure, human character, and state of mind is given a wide playing field in these more abstract works. I often use the human figure and patterns as a metaphor for an emotional state or a personification of different character traits.

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I have always been interested in various interpretations of the same world, the same event that exist in peoples’ minds – the interpretations that have been shaped by peoples’ perceptions, philosophy of life, education, life experiences, etc. Being a visual person, I’ve ‘seen’ these various combined views as multiple layers, each adding a significant meaning to the image. All of these layers and patterns, weaved together in one flat yet multidimensional composition, create a complex psychological response to reality.

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My compositions are a synthesis of my perception of reality and emotional response to it. The beginning of an idea may come from many places – from observation, a conversation with friends, a particularly striking passage in a book, from dreams, or memories. Sometimes the image is readily appearing in my mind, and all I need to do is plan a photo shoot or choose from a number of reference photos I’ve collected over the years and work out the details of the composition on the computer, using image and pattern associations. Some ideas require a considerably longer creative process before the brush even touches the canvas. I explore a variety of color schemes, working to achieve a synthesis between the concept and the colors and patterns that will best portray it, sometimes ending up with 30-40 different designs that I need to choose from. Out of this challenge developed the approach of a grid-based design whereby I could incorporate portions of several compositions in a single piece. 

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While I may give a very specific meaning to particular patterns and color schemes, the most interesting and important part is each viewer’s perception – I invite the viewer to respond to the image based on their own experiences and ideas about beauty, truth, faith, life."

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The Brickwalk is anxious to show more of Yelena's work and we are proud to have such a well accomplished Nebraska-based artist showing in our gallery.  We encourage you to visit her website to learn more about who she is, her upbringing and education.  

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www.yelenakhanevskaya.com

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If you find a work on her page that sparks your interest, we encourage you to email us at connect@thebrickwalkgallery.com to arrange a showing or discus purchasing options.

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