'PANTIN' Oil on Canvas
Dimension: 39" x 39" x 1"
Certification of Authenticity: Apricus Art Collection
Signature: Signed by Artist
"Paintin'" by Elea Jane is a figurative oil on canvas board that weaves a narrative through its visual elements, evoking a sense of personal and shared histories. The composition is centered on two figures, one prominently in the foreground, with a pensive gaze that seems to be directed outward, beyond the confines of the scene.
The figures are rendered with a keen attention to anatomy and expression, showcasing a deft handling of the medium. The flesh tones are nuanced, with subtle gradations that give a lifelike quality to the skin, reflecting an adept use of chiaroscuro to model form with light and shadow.
The background offers a stark juxtaposition to the figures, featuring architectural forms and a ladder that suggests ascent or access to higher levels, possibly symbolic of aspirations or progress. The urban landscape is depicted with a slightly muted palette, which serves to highlight the vibrancy of the human subjects.
Symbolic elements, such as the kite and the heart, are interspersed within the urban landscape, imbuing the work with a sense of whimsy and depth, inviting the viewer to contemplate their meanings. The inclusion of these motifs may hint at freedom, love, or the interplay between the grounded existence of daily life and the soaring aspirations of the human spirit.
The overall composition is carefully structured to guide the viewer's eye through the narrative tableau, using both the positioning of the figures and the perspective of the surrounding environment. The artist's use of color, texture, and form creates a cohesive piece that is rich with emotional resonance and interpretive potential.
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BIOGRAPHY
Elea Jane is a self-taught artist currently based in Oxford. Having been unsettled from her home country and separated from her father as a child, her art often oscillates between atmospheres of home and horizon: the shadows that settle and flicker around comfort in the former, and the vertiginous void of swelling euphoria in latter. Her art focuses on the emergence of sensation and symbol which informs the complexity of subjectivity - whether through her portraits, which play with existing line and colour to bring out abstract forms speaking expressions beyond what’s prefigured and easily conceivable - or through her series of figurative dreamscapes reminiscent of fairy tales and surrealist art, laden with overtly symbolic, conflicting imagery and inspired by the spirit of collage and graffiti, mapping out the subject’s mind in the influx of information of its surroundings.
Having recently emerged from a years-long abusive relationship, Elea also uses the work as a reappropriation of self and sexuality. The trauma suffered from the abuse left the artist with severe problems with speech; the language constructed through her art, that private space that fluctuates between reality and imagination, through sensation, allowed her to take back control of her own voice. She has exhibited in Paris, has completed dozens of portrait commissions since she began painting three years ago, and her portraits are featured in the interview book Follow for Now vol. 2. by Roy Christopher. She lives in the Chilterns with her sister and her cat, Mia.