YELENA KIMELBLAT

 

What forces a person to put in their hand a pencil, brush, or paint in order create on paper, canvas, or on a wall, a person, a dog, flowers and much, much more? Probably today, the same thing that 40,000 years ago, drove a cave dweller, who already felt himself to be a homosapien, to pick up a piece of colored clay near the entrance to his dwelling, or a chunk of coal from the fire, and create on the walls of his cave a bison, mammoth, wild horse or a bird.

 

I think that it is awe before the awesome beauty of the natural world and the desire to include this beauty within one’s own life and say to others “I see it this way!” That is how art has been, and still is, born into the world.

 

All children paint. Over time many children lose their desire to paint. But then something happens in the life of an adult, who since grade school has not put a pencil or a brush in her hand, and she turns to art in order to find a way for her soul to coexist with the surrounding world.

 

This happened to Yelena Kimelblat two years ago. She began to paint a lot and with passion. As a result, in the fall of last year an improvised exhibition of her work took place. I could’ve never imagined the variety of metamorphoses of her emotions into concrete images. I saw this manifest itself at the exhibition.

 

Yelena has the uncanny ability to see the unexpected side of the plain and the ordinary. One cannot arrive at this place with reason and logic. Her metaphoric thinking leads her to decisions that are so far from ordinary human associations that it amazes me beyond words, one who has seen everything within my long life of creativity.

 

That which Yelena does, doesn’t fit within the understanding of artistic movements and schools of thought. She does not belong to any movement. She is on her own. She gives birth to her art pieces somehow naturally, and they naturally communicate to us that which belongs only to her: her visions of things and happenings – her inner world.

 

This perspective finds a connection with the majority of the people who view Yelena’s paintings. She is developing her own audience. I think this is happening because the joy of being with which Yelena lives and works is being conveyed to people.

 

Art is encountered differently by everyone and if this encounter occurs then whether you are the viewer or the creator your soul and mind become richer, life more fulfilled, and maybe more joyful.

 

For Yelena, this encounter already happened and I am certain that she will continue to develop her creativity and her new paintings will amaze us and fill us with happiness.

- The Peoples’ Artist of Ukraine, Mikhail Turovsky