About ZheKa
Biography
My art name is ZheKa (a combination of Russian letters and names). My biography is that of an artist, compelled to tell a story. I have been writing, drawing, painting and carving for 24 years now, last 17 of these in central Pennsylvania, USA . Relief painting (a combination of sculpture and fine art) is my most recent and most successful endeavor. My challenge has always been to convey complex feelings and relationships by means of a single image. Bringing an element of sculpture, relief and texture, as well as new and re-defined composition, (along with the standard fine art techniques) onto my wooden canvas helps me achieve the desired affect.
Carving is a less refined and more of an "in-the-raw" process. It requires me to channel physical energy, demands attention and control, while offering a totally new dimension and the edge of endless possibilities. What normally could not be seen, becomes quite tactile on my "canvas". I envision an art piece that opens a new dimension of perception, a world in which one could stroke the wind with fingertips, where feelings and emotions form shapes and textural flow and the darkness, as well as the light are relieved with the hidden shapes...
For me, painting is always about Discovery. A painting is a small world frozen in time--a whole lifetime expressed in one brave single moment, a life filled with light and darkness, beauty, growth, horror, feelings...all thrown in the mix with an intention to tell a story. This story is what draws some of us to a painting, saying : "Wow! I never thought about it this way!" and then, maybe some other day, you look at that same image again and discover something totally new, in the light of a totally new day!
Art for me is--Discovery. I look at some of my paintings and discover something new and unexpected almost every time. It is an adventure of the mind. Those are the main reasons I call my art--my profession. The Journey and the Discovery. Art is Discovery, Thought is a Journey...and you are right on time to take this one, with me!
Carving is a less refined and more of an "in-the-raw" process. It requires me to channel physical energy, demands attention and control, while offering a totally new dimension and the edge of endless possibilities. What normally could not be seen, becomes quite tactile on my "canvas". I envision an art piece that opens a new dimension of perception, a world in which one could stroke the wind with fingertips, where feelings and emotions form shapes and textural flow and the darkness, as well as the light are relieved with the hidden shapes...
For me, painting is always about Discovery. A painting is a small world frozen in time--a whole lifetime expressed in one brave single moment, a life filled with light and darkness, beauty, growth, horror, feelings...all thrown in the mix with an intention to tell a story. This story is what draws some of us to a painting, saying : "Wow! I never thought about it this way!" and then, maybe some other day, you look at that same image again and discover something totally new, in the light of a totally new day!
Art for me is--Discovery. I look at some of my paintings and discover something new and unexpected almost every time. It is an adventure of the mind. Those are the main reasons I call my art--my profession. The Journey and the Discovery. Art is Discovery, Thought is a Journey...and you are right on time to take this one, with me!
