monochrome oil painting
psychological plots and emotions on snow covered concrete surfaces
About artist
Nelya Akimova / NELYA - NAKI
My artworks are presented in the Agora Gallery (It is one of the best galleries in New York). It is located in the heart of New York City’s renowned Chelsea art district, home to some of the world’s most prestigious galleries.
Prior to the beginning of the artist's career, I worked for more than 20 years at the international pharmaceutical company Servier. And I was the regional manager in Central Siberia with a population of over 10 million people over 10 years from this period. I have gained a great experience of communication with people of different ages and status (from young employees to professors and directors of clinics). This experience now helps me explore and display the emotions of people on my canvases.
I dreamed of living in Prague since 2013 and five years later I left my job and moved with my family to this most beautiful and mystical city. Here I began my path as an artist.
Siberia is my homeland. Who was there in the winter, never forgets the vastness and purity of the snowy expanses. And, as a contrast, concrete structures rise among snow. This magic remains with you for the rest of your life. I want to convey it in my canvases.
"You know, you think of Siberia, and it's more a construct of the mind than it is a place on the map, but it is very much a place on the map. It's just not a specific place. No place is called -officially called Siberia. There's no state called Siberia. But it has always existed as this mythical place, and I've always been fascinated with places that are both mythical and real, that you can go to but also have this mythic component." IAN FRAZIER
My grandmother was an Altai healer (Altai is a part of Siberia). My father told me something from his childhood. When he was a little boy there were always other children in their house who my grandmother treated for stuttering. And I feel a certain energy that leads me. I think this is the inheritance of my grandmother, transmitted through the love of my father. I dedicated one of my paintings to her.
Having received the education as a children's doctor, I pulled out a happy life ticket and I began to work for an international pharmaceutical company. Sales, conferences, business trips, reports, business plans, fails and successes, stability and confidence in the future ... It has been for 20 years in such a way. Excellent school of life, without it, the maturity does not come.
But a few years ago, the inner voice firmly and insistently demanded a step into a new life. It was fearful. I resisted. I strongly stuck on stability. However the universe inexorably pushed me. At first, timidly, then considerably, I began to dive into myself, to hear my inner voice, which I had run for years from. And as soon as I allowed myself to talk to myself, I felt an angel on my shoulder - everything began to take shape in one amazing puzzle: leaving work, moving to the Czech Republic, getting unbridled passion for painting ... I reflected this process in my canvas “The Illusion of Safety”.
When creating my paintings I use my own technique, which was born from my desire to combine the technicality and rudeness of modern concrete surfaces with the purity of Siberian nature. As you can see, the beauty of undressed concrete covered with snow is revealed on every canvas.
And if you look carefully, each work has its own history, soul, emotion, idea. But it will open only to the attentive viewer.
And often viewers see more than what the author shows. New faces, new stories appear, and this is great,
the viewer can also feel himself like the author of the canvas. Every viewer can find a particle of himself.
It is very important to view the paintings from a distance. Then the individual strokes are collected in a single image.
There are billions of people in the world. Some of them have already plunged into a conversation with themselves, but most are afraid of this conversation, running from it, not understanding why life is hitting harder and harder and no happiness comes.
And here, once, having heard music, having seen a picture, a film, a sculpture, one of us has a heartbeat. We want to talk to ourselves and find light and peace inside. But no! Persistently chasing ourselves to earn money, to fulfill duty, role, to serve... Until the next moment of meeting with your personal catalyst. Until the next moment of keen desire for happiness.
What is art? Those works that make you wake up. Great happiness for the artist, if his work increases the number of consciously happy people.
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Latest development
The artwork “The ban on breathing”, presented in the Agora Gallery, became a finalist and then one of the winners of the annual Gateway International Painting Competition 2018-19.
Judge's Comments:
"There are powerful textural shapes, positive and negative spaces, yet it is so subtle. Beautifully conceived and rendered."
Judge and Category: Valerie Kent, Abstract Professional
"The artist engages the viewer immediately with the impact of contrasts: lights against darks, smooth textures against rough, organic shapes punctuated by geometric. We are invited on a journey of exploration, to move through this painting, to discover what is behind these shapes. The dark images appear to be floating--another contrast against the solidity at the lower portion of the composition. Nelya-Naki‘s technique creates an almost musical rhythm that results in a compelling story. Our curiosity is piqued on so many levels and we are left with a desire to see more."
Annual Competition Judges: Art Professionals Kathy Duley, and Linda Corderman
Canvases 50x50 cm
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Insight".
This is young Zuckerberg at the moment when he gets an idea.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas.
"Two faces of the Abuser".
This is a face of a man with a half reptile muzzle.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Kindness".
A kind Siberian grandmother is talking with forest dwellers.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"The ban on breathing."
This is an elephant with a constricted trunk.
The picture is devoted to the violation of individual freedom in dictatorial regimes.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"The main question of the universe."
At the bottom of the picture there is a ship shelling the city, therefore birds of the soul are flying away. The creator is looking from the above. As per Bible: is it "Do not kill" or is it an assigned test of every living person?
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Humanity is on the edge of the universe."
The most powerful creature on Earth feels like a gopher in front of the power of the universe.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas.
"Escape".
The kitten runs away.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Meditation".
The cat is in the lotus position.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Hope".
The fur-seal looks out of the water with the hope that humanity will save nature.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Have I become the king yet?"
Climbing up the career ladder you never know where to stop.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Calm friendliness and self-confidence."
Polar bear.
Size 50x50 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Optimism in its purest form."
Dog.
Canvases 50x80 cm
Size 50x80 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Secret thoughts of the Big Man".
At the bottom there is a man's closed up face, on the top there are
the outlines of the female bust and face.
Size 50x80 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Homesickness".
Circus, chandelier, tired monkey. There are only few spectators.
"Let me go home, why am I here?"
Size 50x80 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Father's jealousy".
In the foreground there is a large profile of the face of a man who is looking attentively at
a small image of a couple in the distance.
Size 50x80 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Dreams of a Siberian girl".
There is a girl who dreams of becoming an actress. There is a part of the actress' face above her head.
Size 50x80 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Silent question of nature: Man, are you sure about what you do?"
The painting depicts a wolf and an owl in the Siberian taiga.
Size 50x80 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Altai healer"
Size 50x80 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Altai healer"
Canvases 80x100 cm
Size 80x100 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Fears of a pirate."
In the center there is the face of a man wearing a pirate hat, distorted by a grimace of fear. Behind, at the top right, there is the profile of a drunk man. On the left there is the reptile image.
Size 80x100 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Fears of a pirate."
In the center there is the face of a man wearing a pirate hat, distorted by a grimace of fear. Behind, at the top right, there is the profile of a drunk man. On the left there is the reptile image.
Size 80x100 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"How does loneliness look like?"
In the center of the picture there is the face of a lonely person
wearing a hat.
Size 80x100 cm, oil, canvas.
"When your husband fell in love."
In the center of the picture there is the profile of the happy man's face, surrounded by radiance. Above on the left there is the profile of a beauty bathing in the rays of his adoration. Below on the right there is the face of a woman (wife) watching them with a mass of emotions: pain, hate, fatigue, understanding of his madness.
Size 80x100 cm, oil, canvas.
"When your husband fell in love."
In the center of the picture there is the profile of the happy man's face, surrounded by radiance. Above on the left there is the profile of a beauty bathing in the rays of his adoration. Below on the right there is the face of a woman (wife) watching them with a mass of emotions: pain, hate, fatigue, understanding of his madness.
Size 80x100 cm, oil, canvas.
"Immersion in yourself."
The whole canvas is covered by a big face of a man
who is lost in his thoughts.
Canvases 100x120 cm
Size 100x120 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Curiosity."
In the foreground of the picture there are two profiles of faces of primitive people who look with curiosity
at a sloth hanging from a tree and looking at guests with the same curiosity.
Size 100x120 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"The world, get away!"
At the bottom left of the picture there is the profile of a person living alone in his fears and complexes.
Size 100x120 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"Farewell, childhood!"
On the right side of the picture there is an image summarizing memories from childhood
with the face of a baby doll, with the cat's paws flying away from us.
Size 100x120 cm, oil, canvas, texture paste.
"A sense of defense"
In the center of the picture is an owlet, trustingly sitting on the shoulder of the muscular Atlas.
Size 100x120 cm, oil, canvas.
“The Illusion of Safety”
How often people hide from the River of Life behind fragile transparent partitions,
manically guarding their little stability swamp.
painting technique
Technically, my style combines several techniques:
- Alla Prima, when one paint is applied to another, without waiting for the previous layer to dry
(among the famous artists who painted alla prima were John Singer Sargent, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh);
- Blanding (a painting technique where two different colors are mixed together when they are wet,
giving a smooth transition from one color to the other);
- Impasto (a technique of applying large brush strokes and palette knife and other tools);
-and also, the old technique Grisaille (a monochrome painting executed entirely in different shades of gray or a grayish tone).
Copyright © 2019 nelya-naki.com All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2019 nelya-naki.com
All Rights Reserved.