Yelena Lamm

I believe that beauty will save the world. Even if not, it certainly makes it a better place. Whether painting figurative or still life composition, my goal is to celebrate the beauty that surrounds us. I experiment with shapes and bright colors. I exaggerate colors to create contrast, and break down shapes to find rhythms that are almost musical in their nature. My works strive for harmony, punctuated by contrasting crescendos juxtaposed with softer notes.

My subjects are traditional in their nature, but I prefer my realism with a little twist. I like mixing the soft curves of the human form with architecturally structured or geometric patterns, combining elements of cubism with organic shapes. In my portraits, I like conveying the person's story through the use of background details.

In my recent works, I experiment freely with geometry of form, breaking down and reassembling objects into fractured shapes separated by crisscrossing lines of color. Painting still life or portraits, I'm flexible with exaggeration and take liberties with color, using bright hues with more gusto. I create compositions using cascading drapes, botanical subjects, and fruits, including my favorite, pomegranates. Pomegranates represent what I strive for in every painting: bold, energetic colors, seamless melding of the geometric and organic, and a hidden symbolic meaning. Sometimes, I work with more pastel tones, but the end goal is still the same: a pleasing combination of light and color, geometric shape and organic form, and an honest expression of beauty.