BIOGRAPHY
I am a self-taught artist inspired by abstract expressionism. A Ukrainian-born Israeli, I have always been a creative person: I wrote poems and danced since my early childhood. However, I only started to paint much later in life, during my university studies.
It was during the time when I had an opportunity to live in several different countries – Austria, Germany, UK – and painting abstract has helped me to cope and understand new contexts, to express my feelings about it and digest new experiences. In addition to being trained as a sociologist, during my PhD at the university of Oxford I had my first solo exhibition and started to focus more on my art and engage more actively with the art community. Since then, I have exhibited my works in the UK, Finland, and USA, and have been a finalist and winner of various juried exhibitions.
I participated in several artistic residencies in Europe and the USA and in 2021, I co-authored a book with an American poet Timothy Tarkelly
entitled “All Other Form of Expression: Paintings and Poems by Elena Samarsky and Timothy Tarkelly”.
CV
Solo Exhibitions
2022 Forthcoming. Osage Arts Gallery. Belle, Missouri, USA
2021 Pop-up Exhibition. Osage Arts Gallery. Belle, Missouri, USA
2020 Expression through Abstract. Centro Cultural William V. Musto, Union City, New Jersey, USA
2018 Magic in the Countryside. Hovinkartano International Arts and Cultural Centre, Finland
2018 Searching for the Immortal. Jesus College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Group Exhibitions
2021 Rotating Art Gallery. Union City, New Jersey, USA
2021 5th Annual Colors. Exhibition finalist. Fusion Art Online Juried Art Exhibition
2021 Abstract. Exhibition finalist. Grey Cube Gallery Online Juried Art Exhibition
2020 America. Centro Cultural William V. Musto, Union City, New Jersey, USA
2020 Transformative. Winner. HobokenArts, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, Online Juried Art Exhibition
Awards
2020 Winner. Juried HobokenArts “Transformative Online Art Exhibit”, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Artistic Residency
2021 Osage Arts Community Inc. Artist Residency, Belle, Missouri, USA
2021 Sarasvati Creative Space Residency, Waynesboro, Tennessee, USA
2020 Azule Residency, Hot Springs, North Carolina, USA
2018 Hovinkartano International Arts and Cultural Centre, Hauho, Finland
Publications
2021 “All other Forms of Abstraction: Paintings and Poems by Elena Samarsky and Timothy Tarkelly.”
2020 “Current resident” Azule Newsletter. August
2020 “Solo Exhibition at the Centro Cultural William V. Musto”, 2020, Hudson Reporter Online, Art and Culture
2018 “Art Exhibition in the College” Jesus College Arts Magazine, Michaelmas 2018.
STATEMENT
For me, creating art is as a form of self-expression, an emotional and intellectual journey of reflection on yourself, others, and your environment (natural and man-made). I am always curious to see how a new environment impacts my creative process: being a nomad I love to travel, and participate in art residencies to discover these new encounters. The desire and sometimes the need to reflect and digest environments/encounters creates a dynamic work process in which each series of work is different and is an expression of a specific point in life. Such context provides a fluidity in which I have a freedom to experiment with colour, texture, and techniques. Creating art is also a transformative process – from being an active creator to being a detached observer of an autonomous piece. Although it can be a harmonious process, it can also result in feeling of abandonment and emptiness.
