SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLO EXHIBITION
The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
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The World's Leading Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Elena
Ansaloni
ITALY
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“I started drawing when I was at high school, I was very good at drawing animals but also at reproducing classical paintings with colored pencils, for example Caravaggio, El Greco, Hayez.”
Elena Ansaloni was born in Turin, Italy, where she lives and work. You could say that her artistic story began almost 30 years ago, at the scientific high school. It was there that she discovered her passion for drawing, in particular for animal portraits, which were a great success with her classmates and friends.
I longed to draw a red cat, when I saw him I fell in love with the color of its coat but especially with the sense of tranquility it conveys with its closed eyes, in apparent meditation.
As is often the case, she abandoned her dreams of artistic glory immediately after her high school diploma and enrolled at university: Electronic Engineering. Between integral functions, semiconductors and diode circuits, she forgot about pencil and paper for many years.
This is a portrait of Ali, the cat of one of my best friends. He was picked up off the street when he was a kitten and now lives like a king, sleeping on the bed.
Then, in 2019, she found old drawings from high school in a drawer and suddenly her passion was rekindled. She bought a new set of pencils and paper, took a picture of a friend’s cat and the magic of art did the rest.
“Drawing for me is a wonderful journey into emotions, a form of meditation.”
Her favorite subjects are animals, especially dogs and cats, wonderful creatures and true companions in life, but she also draws human subjects. The important thing is that something living, with a soul, is portrayed on paper.
“Starting with colored pencils, I also began to use sanguine pencil, graphite, and most recently charcoal, which gives me much satisfaction.”
She always starts with the eyes, the mirror of the soul: from there she can see the white paper come to life, emerge from its two-dimensionality and become a creature.
This is a portrait of Bobo, the magnificent and very sweet dog of a friend. He is very lively and has an ever watchful gaze,
Making his portrait I tried to convey with pencil strokes the softness of his coat.
“It's amazing how you can create something alive out of nothing using just one color and working only on shading, pressure and curvature of the lines.”
He is Cagliostro, my beloved cat.
He has the softest coat and in this portrait he has the slightly pouty look of when he wants to eat but it's not time yet.
The great Leonardo da Vinci wrote, "even the smallest of felines is a masterpiece". A cat's expression can go in a split second from tenderness to a wild look, revealing the deeper nature that has remained in him. In the same way the look with which a dog looks at his “human" reveals his loyal and grateful nature.
I don't think David Bowie needs any introduction; he is a music legend.
With his portrait I tried to convey his magnetic gaze, which seems to capture the soul of the beholder.
The deepest emotions can only be expressed with the gaze; knowing how to capture the expression is the only way she can begin to draw, because in the eyes there is the power of everything that is transformed into action with the hand that outlines the rest of the face and body.
I titled this drawing "Felinity" because in my opinion it expresses the essence of "being feline": beauty, royalty, imperturbability.
For her works she uses graphite pencil, charcoal, sanguine and colored pencils. This type of technique allows her to work on chiaroscuro and shading. She creates the effect of depth by intensifying the line in the points that interest her; to make this technique effective, it is necessary to study shadows and light in depth, and how the light reflects on the surface of the textures.
A cat that looks beyond, and sees what we humans are precluded from seeing...
“She likes to make portraits of people and animals that she meets and loves but also works on commission, drawing for friends and clients.”
Perla is a very sweet kitten but with a determined look.
Adopted from a cattery, now living happily with her human.
She mainly uses 300-gram paper and 100% cotton: the weight and material allow her a greater layering of the stroke, which is more intense; the texture is also rougher and more suitable for making portraits on paper.
This is Snoopy, a very sweet and curious-looking beagle of friends
My research is relentless, in the future I would also like to try watercolor. But my greatest satisfaction is that I have finally returned to express, alongside my rational nature, the emotional part that is an equally important part of me.
I wanted to draw a leopard because I have always been fascinated by the magnificent coat and the proud, wild look.
He expresses the beauty and power of nature.