Yelena Matulic Owens Studio

The act of painting (for me) is the act of invoking Self, the connection to the pregnant Void whose essence is flux. The kinesthetic, intuitive process begins with gesture: a mark. The mark engenders companions. Together we become a journey. An image evolves, beckoning the viewer on a voyage to a landscape of an altered dream.

Movement and painting have been two of the constants in my life. I grew up in the shadow of Manhattan, steeped in the Serbo-Croatian language, memories and culture of my parents. By the age of sixteen painting became a vehicle by which I would continue to explore the primordial ocean of being. I “studied” art at NYU and Hunter College where I earned and MFA in Combined Media. Performance, dance, film, photography, printmaking and painting were all a vital part of my joy and training. The genre of painting that elicited the most visceral response from me was Abstract Expressionism. My work has evolved intuitively in a similar vein, with form playing a more vital role in my work. Extensive travels in Europe, Central and North America informed my work, as did studies in the movement/healing arts. In 1995 I “landed” in the Taos area where the exploration of paint and essence continue to expand.