Biography

Elena  Zolotnitsky - Artists - Pryor Fine Art

I paint archetypes. When a chair isn't really a chair, a flower isn't really a rose, and a face isn't really a portrait. Since the painting itself is the main subject  - it is my main focus. I am left with surface, time, space and my own emotion. It is already too much to handle. In order to make my point across I simplify everything else. In the finished work I strive for physical, as well as emotional depth in the layers of paint. At the same time being cautious not to “overdo” them. I prefer my paintings "breathing", with a lacuna of space here and there. They are in transition, they are all becoming, just like myself.

It's been a long road, almost 40 years spent in front of an easel. A life long of doing and thinking: what do I want to share with my paintings? I like to think of my artworks as "sonnets" (a poetic form of a specific structure for expressing courtly love) - conveying my admiration for life, art, beauty and enchantment in a format of a painting. I communicate my feelings and emotions in paint, its color and its plasticity. The way I am treating the surface - sometimes unsaid, sometimes undone - is an important part of each image. I try to make them as exciting and vibrant as I can in their seemingly repetitiveness. (How do you say "I love you" in so many ways?!). I treat every painting as a challenge, in-tuned for that single true bright note, that I can start building the magic on. Allowing my sense of time and personal identity to dissolve into another dimension.

Installations

Elena Zolotnitsky in the gallery.

Photography by: Emily Followill

CV

Born:  1961, Moscow, Russia
Education:  MFA from the Moscow Cinema Academy, 1987

Awards, Grants, Residencies:

2008  -  Visual Aid's Jerome Caja Terrible Beauty Award, San Francisco, CA
2007  -  Award of Excellence, Cash Prize at Northern National Art Competition, Nicolett College,
            WI Best in the Show, Cash Prize at Loyola National Works on Paper, Chicago, IL
2005  -  Award of Excellence: 46th Communication Arts Annual Illustration Exhibition, CA
         -  Full Fellowship from Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos, New Mexico
         -  Best in the Show "Dimensions 2005", 40th National Exhibition, Winston-Salem, NC
2004  -  Award of Excellence: SDAI 48th International Exhibition, San Diego, CA
2003  -  Full Fellowship from Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
1997  -  Grant from the Paul Beckett Foundation, Denmark / Spain
1993  -  Gold Medal: Mid-Atlantic Watercolor Exhibition, Baltimore, MD
1993  -  Merit Award: 36th Annual Illustration Exhibition, Society of Illustrators, NY
1991  -  Merit Award: 27th Annual Illustration Exhibition, Society of Publication Design, NY

Solo Exhibitions:

2009  -  Paul Mahder Gallery: "Basic", San Francisco, CA 2006
         -  Franklin Bowles Gallery, San Francisco, CA
         -  B. Boeltz Gallery, Denver, CO
2005  -  Barbara Anderson Gallery: "Closer", Berkeley, CA
2004  -  Open Studios, ArtSpan San Francisco, CA
2003  -  Bucci's, Emeryville, CA
2002  -  East Bay Open Studios, Berkeley, CA
2001  -  Addison Street Windows, Sponsored by the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission,
            Berkeley, CA
2000  -  Albatross, Berkeley, CA
1998  -  Harbor Square Gallery, Rockland, ME
1997  -  Russian Embassy, Washington D.C., curated by Diane Beal

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2015 – Pryor Fine Art

2012- Pryor Fine Art, 3 person show, Atlanta, GA

2011 – Pryor Fine Art, Fall Salon, Atlanta, GA                                                                                  

2010  -  "Cimmerian Muse: Exploring The Gesters Of The Mind" Nieto Fine Art, San Francisco CA
         -  "The Figure Now" Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, St.Lois, MO.
            Juried by Sofie Jodoin, Alex Kanevsky and Nicholas Uribe
2008  -  Two Artists Show, Paule Anglim Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007  -  Loyola National Works on Paper, Crown Center Gallery Loyola University of Chicago,
         -  Juried by Dan Addington, Director of Gwenda Jay/Addington Gallery, Chicago IL
         -  Northern National Art Competition, juried by Allan Peterson, Nicolett College, WI
         -  Micaela Gallery: "Salon d'Ete 2007", San Francisco, CA
         -  Rotunda Gallery, USF School of Law, curated by Saiko Matsumaru. San Francisco, CA
         -  Paul Mahder Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006  -  SFMOMA Artists Gallery: "Finding the Figure", San Francisco, CA
2005  -  20th Annual Conservatory Art Classic, juried by Tony Eubanks, Clifton, TX
         -  Micaela Gallery: "Salon d'Ete 2005", San Francisco, CA
         -  "Dimensions 2005" 40th National Exhibition juried by Phillip Koch, Winston-Salem, NC
         -  Yerba Buena Center for the Arts: Visual Aid at 16, San Francisco, CA
         -  San Diego Art Institute: 48th International Exhibition, juried by Derrick C. Cartwright,
            Director of the San Diego  -  Museum of Art Market Street Gallery:
            "Erotic Art Show", San Francisco, CA
2004  -  Blue Room Gallery, San Francisco, CA Barbara Anderson Gallery:
           "Works on Paper", Berkeley, CA
         -  ARTWALK at the Embarcadero Center, curated by ArtSpan, San Francisco, CA
2003  -  Catharine Clark Gallery: SPICE Visual Aid Artists, San Francisco, CA
         -  San Diego Art Institute: 46th International Exhibition, San Diego, CA
2002  -  Vorpal Gallery: "Beaux & Eros", San Francisco, CA
2001  -  SFMOMA Artists Gallery 4 Artist Show, San Francisco, CA
         -  Vorpal Gallery: "The Year 2001- Art Odyssey", San Francisco, CA
1999  -  Museum of American Illustration: SPD Gala Annual, New York, NY
         -  Art Expo: Finalists of the Art Calendar Magazine's Competition, New York, NY
         -  James E. Lewis Museum of Art, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD
         -  Sloane Gallery, Denver, CO
1997  -  Springfield Art Museum: Watercolor USA Honor Society, 6th Biennial Exhibition
        -  "Maryland Artists" Government House, Annapolis, MD
         -  Lancaster Museum of Art: "Creating Women", Lancaster, PA
1996  -  Eastern New Mexico University: "Form and Metaphor" Hodson Gallery:
           "Made in the USA", Hood College, Frederick, MD
1995  -  Regional Mid-Atlantic Watercolor Exhibition, Baltimore, MD 1994
            Zenith Gallery, Washington D.C.
1993  -  New York City Public Library: SPD Gala Annual, New York, NY
         -  Galerie Francoise, Green Spring, MD 1992 Zimmerly Art Museum: Norton Dodge's
             Collection of Soviet Art, Rutgers University, NJ

Selected Publications:

2009  -  Etnosfera Magazine: "Elena Zolotnitsky - Creativity Is A Personal Affair". Interviwe with
            Yulia Goryacheva, Issue #11 (134), Moscow Russia
2008  -  7x7 San Francisco Magazine: "Watch This Space" by Christine Ryan.
           November Issue p.120
2005  -  46th Annual Communication Arts, p.107 2004 Green Mountain Review:
            Cover, Vol. XVII, No. 2
2003  -  Baltimore Magazine: "A Selection of Contemporary Russian Artwork" by John Lewis,
         -  February Issue pp. 122-123
2001  -  BOA Editions Limited: Cover for Parphenope by Michael Waters
2000  -  NY Times Book Review Cover: "Thus Spake Beowulf" February 27th
1999  -  BOA Editions Limited: Cover for Dusty Angel by Michael Blumenthal
1997  -  "Painting Composition" Rockport Publishers: Award of Distinction
         -  "The Best of Watercolor 2" Rockport Publishers: Award of Distinction
         -  Intelligencer Journal "Happenings", March Issue: "Bold or Fractured, Images From
             Women's Selves" by Jennifer Knopf. Cover Story on "Creating Women",
             Lancaster Museum of Art, PA
1996  -  Frederick Gazette: "Six Very Good Reasons To See "Made in the USA by Richard
         -  Lebhers on the Exhibition of Selected Former Russian Artists
1995  -  The Artist's Magazine: "Rising Watercolor Stars" by Bebe Raupe,
             October Issue pp. 60-65.
         -  An Art Review featuring the top winners from 10 of North America's
             most prominent Watercolor Societies
1993  -  The Baltimore Sun March 11: "Zolotnitskys Blend Humor and Grimness,
            Go Figure" by John Dorsey. Art Review on the two-person exhibition at
            Galerie Francoise, Baltimore, MD
1992  -  The Columbia Flier December 17th: "Two Russians make their points at CAC"
             by Mark Giuliano on a two-person exhibition at Columbia Arts Center, Washington D.C.

 
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