"A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever" - John Keats

I write this statement in gratitude and appreciation of my personal journey. Being able to maintain a studio, spend time there in contemplation, conjuring something out of nothing and seeing these "somethings" find their way into peoples hearts?! What a charmed and enchanted life I have! What a joy has it been to be able to create, to stretch time, to paint my emotions, to have those moments when nothing else matters. The show is a curated collection of 9 paintings under the name "ODE TO JOY". By definition (I just looked it up!) ode is a lyrical poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter. A poem meant to be sung (I hope to sing that song forever!). In this case it's an ode to inspiration, color, feeling, knowledge, maturity and playfulness, to love, to all things beautiful, to the life to the fullest. As you can see I continue to pursue exploring paint in three seemingly different genres, presented: "Extinct Series", "Florals" and "Portraits", although to me, personally, the distinction is minimal - they all are visual archetypes, emotions in paint and they all mean something to me. I just hope that they vibrate the same melody to you. For those of you who is tuning in for the first time I would like to elaborate on my two ongoing series: "Extinct" and "Valentines". As I mentioned in the past the "chairs" (which are not chairs) I paint are "characters", people who you could imagine sitting in those chairs. Like their owners they have certain features, vibrations, an aura as you will. They all come from my imagination. The only "character" from my series inspired by a real chair so far is "A Date With Klimt". I was so taken by Koloman Moser's original design for Klimt's solo exhibition at the 1903 Vienna Secession (now on display at Leopold Museum), that I had to paint my interpretation of it right away, as soon as we got back from the trip to Vienna. And in my "Valentines Series" (which are florals, but not) I am telling tales of the relationships, exploring certain harmonies, palettes and paint applications in the repetitive "bouquet" motif, driven solely by the imaginary situations or emotional developments between lovers. Hence the names: like "Pink Perfect", "Lost In Translation", "Love Shimmers", "Moonstruck", et cetera.

Here is to the joy and passing it on! Enjoy the show! And thank you for your continuous support!

December 26th, 2025
Elena Zolotnitsky