Aelita

Aelita was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. Her teachers were famous Russian artists Evgeny Kolchenko (artist-monumentalist, painter, sculptor) and Leon Rubins (sculptor, graphic artist), who discovered and nurtured Aelita’s art talents from the time she was 9 years old. Her artworks were displayed at art galleries and exhibitions in Moscow, where she worked as a lead designer for a major international multi-media company. Aelita lives in the USA since 2004, where she continued studying computer graphics at Seattle School of Visual Concepts. She works as art director and designer for many art projects and some prominent publications, including Dela & Ludi (Business & People) magazine for the Russian community. _____________________________________________________________________________________ MY STATEMENT: The need to express myself in terms of the light and shade, as well as the colors I see both physically and emotionally. They became the driving force behind that passion. Color or lack thereof, brings an emotional quality to my work. I have always been a very active, outdoor-loving person and a lover of nature. I get a lot of my inspiration for paintings from the experiences of being away from the hustle & bustle of city life. In the solitude that I find at the ocean, or in the mountains, or deep in the beautiful forests of the Pacific Northwest I find enhances my creative energies. As I grew older, my sensibilities tended towards realizing the integrity of both the people and figures that I painted and drew; as well as the scenes I created, both imaginary and realistically. I have seen my role as presenting through my art, both the bright and clear visions I have of life, as well as the drama in the people I draw and paint. I am particularly interested in showing my imaginary people as nudes because I am struck by the honesty and openness of the unadorned human body and face. I try to express the emotions that I feel through these images to allow the honesty of my intimate feelings to come through. Genuine caring and love is a large part of my personal wish for all Peoples everywhere. Love can express itself as the feelings generated in images of water and forest scenes in which a lonelyness and solitude play a large part. I am particularly intrigued by the way fog plays with the light in a forest, or across a waterscape, and adds a depth of meaning while removing the depth of the view. I like to imagine the scene behind the fog, visualizing in my mind’s eye, all the life and living that may be hidden there. In portraiture, I enjoy painting strong personalities whose strength of character that I admire. Singers such as Iyeoka and Nargiz I find to be particularly appealing, and I tend to paint them in monochrome to enhance the drama of their appeal. I hope that my work brings to the viewer an appreciation for my integrity, honesty, and peace. I have had way too many interactions with people who have no such standards; this has made keenly aware of how much we humans should embrace the good and honest motives in others and ourselves. I continually work to try and bring those good qualities of life to the fore. I hope that the spontaneity in my work also shows through and I hope that the spontaneity in my work also shows through and brings pleasure to the people who interact with it. I am a portrait artist, I approach the landscape of the face with respect. I live for art. It is the way that I express the wide expanse of feelings that life engenders in me. Having survived the rough and tumble of living my early life in the Soviet Union, and then later on in Seattle, USA, my pictures encompass and attempt to portray many of the emotions, and loves, and heartbreaks I have lived through. I find that pouring those feelings into my fingers, the art flows without restraint through my chosen medium. I am trying to express my deeper self though monochromatic use of oil, pastel, pencil and charcoal. I agree with what Rodin once said: ‘‘If you are an artist then you can’t possibly be anything else.’’