Mix Paint, Textile expertise, Clay, Paper, Fashion Design, and other visual art ingredients and you start to get an idea of the work of Elena Myasnikova.
Elena takes full advantage of her knowledge of those elements and creates paintings with different textures and contours. She constantly wanders in philosophical thoughts and searches for answers when painting. Asking us to join her in that exploration when we look at her work.
Nature is one of her main subjects, taking its beauty, fragility and power and transforming it through her strokes into a new world of shades, hues and shapes.
After accomplishing her degree in Art in Uzbekistan, Elena Myasnikova worked as Chief Visual Art Producer in theatres in Tashkent and Volgograd. In Canada Elena graduated in Fashion, expanding her expertise of textures and materials.
One can say Myasnikova’s works are as the sum of smaller works, what I mean is that the detail in her works is worth exploring just as the whole piece. Look at her work as a whole first, then, choose a section and look deeper. The mix of hues, texture of the strokes, offer a new and different perspective.
-Written by Mario Castanon, Photographer
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Which ‘hood are you in?
I have lived with my family and two cats in Douglasdale for the past 12 years.
What do you do?
As an artist, I work in a variety of different media and techniques. When it comes to materials, I like to have my hands on paint, clay, paper, glass…I like to experiment and create textures. With my background as a theatre stage and costume designer, I still feel the strong presence of a performance in my paintings, the way I get inspired and the way I approach and develop my art.
I like to use rare or discontinued materials, giving them life extension in Art, I am always on the lookout for artisan wallpaper and textile catalogues with discontinued samples of gorgeous paper and fabrics. These beautiful pieces often inspire me to create the “last song” to capture that moment of beauty they possess. They become my media and they continue living on even though they got retired off the market.
An art piece is like a poem to me, my style is rather lyrical. I am influenced by Nature the most, from a beautiful light shimmer on a branch that caught my attention, to climate issues, our humans’ complicated relationship with Nature, relationship of connection and rejection – these are my main subjects in art.
I have a very special place in my heart for wood and paper. Working with this media is very spiritual to me. One of my artistic styles – paper-cut – is an ode to these magnificent green giants.
I usually work on more than one piece at a time. In my world of paint media, I love large-scale paintings and my focus is mainly on oversized landscapes. I work in a number of different techniques which I have developed over time.
A very special part of my professional life is teaching art to kids. I have little art students eager to create and to have their hands (and often ears) covered in paint.
What are you currently working on?
Currently, I am working on my series “When Earth Calls”, of mixed media, where I reflect my thoughts on humans/nature relationship. In this series my main medium is Earth elements (wood, stones, sand), I am bringing the beauty of natural textures and colours in this family of abstract works.
I am also in the middle of one of my largest works so far, “Rolling Hills”, a colourful diptych in my newly developed soft acrylic technique.
I started working on new design ideas for my next paper-cut series of works.
I don’t forget my textile, I am putting together a little line of one-of-a-kind kimono jackets for the upcoming Spring, which I am creating with rescued high-end fabric pieces.
Where can we find your work?
You can find my work on my website and Instagram. You can also see my work on Artmatch, Singulart, Hello Art and Saatchi Art.
