ELENA

Elena has been increasingly expanding her opportunities on art practices by adopting the style of free handing without drafts, introducing her original character "Chibi-Chan" in various sets of styles. Her recent representative work "Surfing Ochibi" which placed as a tribute to Hokusai Katsushika's "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjarokkei)" is a great example of explaining her own unique style of adorable characters and enchanting colors mixed with Hokusai's traditional techniques. Prolonging Hokusai's painting method on watercolors and unique compositions, she introduces her works with an alternative use of vivid colors of matte and hard acrylic gouache, leading it to harmonize the good old traditions and modern pop art in a novel and a supple formative beauty.

Her masterpiece "Surfing Ochibi" pays an homage to the famous "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku Sanjurokkei)" by Hokusai Katsushika, one of the most famous Ukiyoe artists in Japanese art history. Those little creatures in her works are called "Chibi-Chan," the very original characters she drew as doodles on the corner of her notebooks back in junior high school. They came in to her life as her emotional supporters without any notice and stayed by her side ever since even when she was going through her ups and downs as a teenager.

"Chibi-Chan" then became as an idea of symbol for the guidance for rebirth into a whole new radiant life as they shared their lives with her. The brush strokes and thick outlines reminisce the techniques of Japanese anime and manga. It verifies the existence of each character and it associate with the enriched connections on human relationships at the same time. Unique but calm-looking "Chibi-Chans" appear and disappear in the supple, yet captivating wave foams and its puffiness, plump and rounded motifs with possible fish features assemble together as a collective form full of variety structures and expressions to cross over waves.

In order to develop more, the world has transformed and learned how to coexist as each unique human beings by accepting variety of thoughts to overcome challenges.

Her works express the composition of society in a bigger picture and conveys viewers to make sure how precious it is to being able to accept for who you are with kind heart with open arms.