Gering, NE
Yelena Khanevskaya
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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.