Elina Yumasheva

Elina Yumasheva’s practice celebrates ecological consciousness and the diversity of living and non-living forms through the use of oils, pigments, natural and other non-toxic materials. Drawing from mythology, science and symbolism – she experiments with natural dyes to probe the quest for permanence while exploring the impermanence of being. As an expanded painter, her practice moves between canvas and beyond, morphing it through space, forms, mediums, techniques and the digital.

Elina explores the relationship between the artist, environment, materials and processes, where her artworks embody a dialogue between intention and unpredictability. Her practice challenges conventional ideas of control and aesthetics in artistic creation by responding to the innate characteristics of the mediums as they present themselves. The artist observes unpredictable patterns, where the materiality becomes its own source of reference. A performative element of this symbiotic process emerges, highlighting the delicate equilibrium between human intention and the energies of the natural world, inviting reflection on the beauty inherent in yielding control to the forces of creation.

The artist sees art history filled with lyrical abstraction and colour symbolism, re-invigorating them through the lens of ecological emotiveness and expression in the contemporary field. Drawing from Britain’s post-war abstract painters, Elina explores material, the painted surface, place and experience.