Yelena Lewis

Having been born and bred in the Russia of the pre-Perestroika era left me with the great gift of emotional dependence upon family and friends, as well as the advantages of a cheerful disrespect for any sort of propaganda or any kind of authority. I’ve received my education in Brezhnev’s Russia and Blair’s Britain and have lived in Moscow in the USSR, Newcastle on Tyne and London in Britain, Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Geneva in Switzerland before settling down in France. I feel I have a few stories to tell combined with a strong desire for an audience: the resulting hot-pot can be found in my paintings. It gives me great pleasure to work in different styles, as it signifies fun and freedom, the qualities greatly appreciated by anybody who, like me, has had an experience of a totalitarian upbringing. Similarly, I use any medium available to paint with: oil, watercolours, gouache, charcoal, pure pigments, pencil, ink, pastel, acryl – anything! – and on any support: paper, wood panels, cardboard, canvass, etc. more...