ELENA ABESSINOVA Norway
Elena Abessinova was born in 1959 into a gifted family in Kiev, Ukraine. Her grandmother, a survivor of Stalin’s repressions, was instrumental in protecting and educating her own children and passing down to her granddaughter the spirit and character of her aristocratic origins. Inspired by this multi-faceted creative milieu, Elena completed studies in both music and art. She specialized in graphic design and book illustration. A collaboration with a Swiss publisher and further work in Switzerland strengthened the artist’s independent spirit and helped in making a name for herself Elena Abessinova is a master of painting and drawing using pen and for elaborate narrative compositions which, although drawn in painstaking detail, seem like elegant Wings of Hope, 2008 Acrylic on canvas 47 x 39 in. or 120 x 100 cm Fruit Imagination, 2014 Acrylic on canvas 47 x 39 in. or 120 x 100 cm
of chromatic tonalities. The result is an intense poetic sensibility in her art. She has participated in many international art projects and fairs in the Ukraine, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, England, Norway, and the USA. “I have never been in the East. My gradual immersion in the theme of the Orient began in 1991 when I received a commission from a Zurichbased publisher to illustrate Leo Tolstoy’s parable “How Much Land a Man Needs”. I revel in improvisation in the style of the oriental miniature, improving my technique and sense of colour and composition while I work. It was an Arabian carpet that inspired me to realize this triptych. It my meditations, and which took two years to paint.”
Passion, 2015 Acrylic on canvas 35 x 47 in. or 90 x 120 cm
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