Elena Zolotnitsky Sold at Auction Prices

b. 1961 -

Beauty is my inspiration. Over the past few years my art has become increasingly personal and intimate, focusing more on the raw physicality of painting. My favorite medium is oil paint, either on canvas, board or on heavy paper. I use a lot of gold leaf. It increases my spectrum of flatness and brings in more drama in shape. As I build layer upon layer of contrasting hues and textures, I am driven more by my pursuit of the formal concerns of painting instead of by my desire to relate a narrative. Yet I remain always a figurative artist, one who feels a special affinity for the craft, subtlety, and peace of Flemish art and the art of Balthus.

My goal is to create paintings that are both well-crafted and probe deeply into the mystery of the medium itself, widening the spectrum of that which is portrayed. Painting for me is the magic act, when the combination of oil paint, a bit of imagination and a lot of heart create something alive that other people can relate to on emotional level. And that is what art does, I think - it transforms energy of labor into feelings.


Elena Zolotnitsky was born in Moscow, Russia in 1961. She graduated The Moscow College of Art School of Cinematography in 1987 with the MFA in Fine Art. She immigrated to the United States in 1990.
Now Elena lives in the Bay Area in California. She have been a recipient of numerous grants and awards of professional recognition over the years of her career. She was just recently awarded a show at Gallery Paule Anglim (August 2008), the most prestigious Gallery in San Francisco. Elena Zolotnitsky showed at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco) and was represented by Franklin Bowles Gallery (San Francisco) for the last 2 years. She was commissioned a Cover Art for the NY Times Book Review (?Thus Spake Beowulf?, Feb.27th, 2000), was selected for the Annual Communication Arts (2005) and was featured in the 7x7 San Francisco Magazine (November 2008), as one of the prominent 14 Bay Area Artists.