Elena Behrakis

Om

Elena Behrakis (b.1970; Lowell, MA. United States) is a Greek American visual artist who works primarily in oil on canvas, paper and board. Her highly expressive figurative works are characterized by their rich texture, energy, and visible brushstrokes and marks. Elena’s style of painting is intuitive heightening the emotion in her pieces. The works are her direct relation to insulation, strength, invisibility, radiance, and vulnerability within the female experience.

Statement

My practice is rooted in the expressive and physical, yet I crave a sense of serenity within the chaos; one that evokes the essence of complex human emotion, experience and condition. Through the raw excavation of paint, I am constantly wrestling with the dynamic struggle between radiance and darkness by using paint to draw and sculpt to find the work’s destiny. Each piece and every series is a pure discovery which allows for an openness that helps me avoid falling into the traps of formula. This freedom allows for more energy and surprise, while I still wrestle with a sense of control. My desire is that the paintings simultaneously inspire both questions and answers and create a bridge for shared human experiences. My formal art school training gifted me an incredible knowledge of the Bay Area Figurative, Nabis and Fauve movements which I am still deeply inspired by today. I am constantly absorbing imagery from ancient Greek Pottery, Neo-Expressionist and Brut Art movements and the readings of Aristotle's concept of 'eudaimonia.' Late diagnoses in ADHD and Synesthesia play integral roles in my work process and language.

Commissions