Q&A with Elvira Kravenkova @elvira_kravenkova_fine_art #contemporaryfigurativepainting #oilpainying #representationalpainting
Elvira Kravenkova is an award-winning Canadian artist, who was born in Russia.
Her first steps in art education were made in Russia. Even though later, she was also educated in Medicine and Science, received her MD degree, and practiced medicine, for years, she continued getting her art education. Elvira spent three years with Anatoliy Badriashwili in his studio and was a student of Mandy Boursicot’s Classical Realism Atelier.
Since 2013, Elvira is a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and Vancouver Life Drawing Society. She participates actively in National and International Art Shows where she’s won multiple awards.
Currently, her works are available from the Federation of Canadian Artists Gallery in Vancouver, BC and on Artsy.net through 33 Contemporary Gallery, Chicago, IL
Her works are in private collections in Russia, Italy, Australia, US and Canada.
“I paint the beauty of ordinary things and people and my thoughts about this world.
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Q&A
How has this year affected your work and what concept is behind it?
2020 has brought lots of unexpected changes to different areas of our lives, this includes my work.
Procedure wise, there was some chaos. Some shows were cancelled, and I did not bother to paint something special for those, but then suddenly I received messages that they go online in a week, and I had to send my old works since there was no time to prepare (luckily, my old works were accepted).
The biggest challenge was lost opportunity to work with models. Before the quarantine, I did not paint from photos a lot, because I need to feel my model’s energy when I paint. And sometimes the story, told by the model while we work, helps to choose the pose of the model and the colors of the painting. Now, I have to paint from photos more.
The good side of this situation is that I had to ask my family members to pose for me, and we spent more time together reinforcing family ties.
Talking about the content of my works, they are more philosophical now. They depict my thoughts about this world and our lives.
As a result of this shift, my Millennials series was created, and three of the works from this series were accepted to the Women Artists Museum of Canada group show. One of them, Drifting through Life, is available on Artsy.net through 33 Contemporary Gallery.
With this series I try to understand better the situation of this generation. Many of them feel lost in this world. I think, this has happened because they came to the world, when it was still traditional, with the way of living that many generations followed. Then, suddenly, it started to change so fast that not everybody was able to adjust to these speed and changes.
Many of the Millennials are walking among us with some strange smile on their faces which helps them to mask the pain inside and their sarcastic attitude to this world. This idea helped me to create Rizus Sardonicus (The Story of Millennials) painting.
My works, even still lifes and florals, were always telling stories. Now they are not just stories, they are parables.
Do you ever venture out of your creative process to try new things?
The answer is YES! I am a kind of person who has to explore new things and to look for challenges.
Even if we talk about styles and mediums, there is always something new. In the eighties and nineties, I was mostly abstract artist, then I was expressionistic and later I fell in love with Realism. I define my Realistic style as Impressionistic Realism. But every painting brings a new task to express the idea behind it, so there is some style deviation with each painting
I am familiar with different mediums, which helps me in my teaching, since my students have different goals and love different mediums.
I love to experiment to discover the opportunities that every medium gives me. Sometimes, I invent something just because I need to experiment, but there were situations in my life when I just had to invent something to complete the project. Once I had to paint a glass door, it was the period when the USSR, where I lived at that time, was falling apart. It was a period when everything, including art materials was hard to find. The only medium I had available was gouache, and I used it on glass. I still keep the photo of that door to remind me that anything is possible.
I worked a lot with acrylics until I rediscovered oils, fell in love with it as a mature adult, not a child, this time and keep using mostly oils as my main painting medium.
For drawings, I love using soft materials, especially sanguine and sepia because of the warmness of their colors.
Metal point drawing is next on my to do list. I’ve already started to practice and starting to like the results.
What’s hanging above your sofa?
Above my sofa is one of my paintings, Resting Dancer, which every member of my family loves. The model was a professional dancer, the girl full of energy. Even when she was sitting, it looked like she is ready to jump up any second and start dancing. I was able to transfer this energy to the painting, and now when I look at it, I get energized.
It was in a couple of shows, and every time my husband’s hope was that it is not going to be sold (not very business-oriented approach). When we drove the painting home, he said he is happy to do so. I finally decided to let the painting live in our family room, where it is hanging now.
