Elen Alien was born in 1990 in Kremenchug, Ukraine and temporarily lives and works in Oslo, Norway. She has studied architecture and art and experiments with flora. Her art aims to find harmony between aesthetics, concepts, and sustainability.
How did you get into art?
My love for art started at a very young age when I attended art school when I was only 6 years old. From there, my passion for art continued to grow and evolve. Although I pursued a Master's degree in Architecture, I never stopped creating art. Along the way, I also worked part-time in various design fields, including interior design, graphic design, and illustration. In 2020, my partner and I embarked on a journey throughout Scandinavia, which allowed me to devote myself completely to my art. I took additional courses in individual arts and had the opportunity to do a solo show in Stockholm, which was a pivotal moment in my career. Since then, my works have been acquired for private collections in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Russia, the USA, and other countries. Creating art is my life's passion, and I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to share my creations with others around the world.
How would you describe your style? What makes your work special?
My work is inspired by neo-romantic sensitivity and pragmatic romanticism, and I experiment a lot with flora to develop an innovative visual language. I celebrate the beauty of imperfection and the magic of simple things, following the principle of aesthetic economy. Additionally, I pay tribute to ambivalence and oscillation, as they represent the sign of deceleration that already began in a frozen, impact object. This serves as a metaphor for life, leaving a trace in time, giving asymmetry, irregularity, and looking away. My art pushes boundaries and challenges expectations, often leaving viewers with a sense of wonder and intrigue. I aim to create pieces that are not only visually stunning but also inspire people to see the world around them in new and different ways.
How do you go about developing your work?
I remove plants from the cycle of nature and raise them to the status of immortality, idealizing them to make finite the likelihood of infinite using an epoxy resin. Thus, I am working on the border between life and death. My creative process involves an element of randomness; I embrace imperfection and failure, recognizing that I cannot control everything in my work and life. Overall, my art aims to find harmony between aesthetics, concepts, and sustainability.
Who or what influences you?
Nature is my main source of inspiration and my partner in crime. I am influenced by the living traditions of animism, imperfection, and attention to temporality found in Buddhism and Japanese culture, which I inherited from the Romantics. My artistic influences come from a diverse range of artists such as Marina Abramovich, Anish Kapoor, Francis Bacon, Nobuyoshi Araki, and David Lynch. I find it very interesting to follow the journey of my contemporaries like Azuma Makoto, Felipe Baeza, Uffe Isolotto, Yulia Bas, Henrik Uldalen, and Dit Cilinn. I also admire the works of fashion designers Ann Demeulemeester, Schiaparelli, and Alexander McQueen.
Make us curious. What is planned next?
I'm currently working on the upcoming solo show "The Garden of Transcendence", which is set to debut in 2023. The exhibition will delve into the intriguing topic of the balance between the natural and digital worlds, with a focus on the role of an artist in this new era. This project is a combination of digital art, traditional oil painting, and oshibana, which will alternate between abstract and figurative styles in order to highlight the inner conflict of the posthuman. What makes this project even more exciting is the involvement of a new team member - AI! With this unique collaboration, we explore the fascinating possibilities that arise from combining nature, technology, and creativity. Stay tuned for what promises to be a groundbreaking exhibition!
