Self-Portrait, 2023

Eleonora Taranova  

Eleonora Taranova was born in a small Ukrainian town in 1971. As a child, she lived in a village house with animals and observed their behavior. She learned to portray the emotions and movements of pets on her own since there was no art school in the town.

After working as a teacher at a higher school for over 20 years, she quit her job and took up painting as a hobby. Now she is working as a full-time artist in animalistic and figurative genres for the last 12 years.

Eleonora draws inspiration from the rock carvings' simplicity and expressiveness, emotionality of works of Rembrandt and Vrubel, human form depiction of Francis Bacon, and bright colored works of Franz Mark.

Fleeing the war, Eleonora appeared in Denmark where she is based now. The artist researches emotions with the aim of opposing and finding common ground between human and animal psychology. She awakens empathy and pays tribute to animals that fill our lives with devotion and love, and inspire us with their natural beauty. The artist speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves.

ARTIST STATEMENT

I research the emotional states of humans and animals. From an early age, I have been looking for the oppositions and commons between human and animal psychology. I strive to connect the expressiveness of the depiction of physical forms and the plasticity of movement with psychological internal states. The most appropriate for this is the genre of portraiture in which I work.

Having difficulties in moving, I carefully observe the movements of the body of people and animals. I notice how muscles move, how the body keeps balance, and how emotional states are physically expressed. So far, my works have portrayed animals and people separately. But I am going to unite these two worlds in the REFLECTIONS project. The traditional oil painting technique seems the most suitable for its warmth and plasticity. Using a warm limited palette helps to focus on the shape and motions of humans' and animals' bodies and muscles.
 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021 ItsLiquid International Art Fair, The Room Art Space, Italy 

2021 Artbox Projects World

1.0, Switzerland

2020 Artbox Projects Zurich, 2.0, SwissartExpo, Switzerland

2020 International contest of animalistic art Animal Portrait

2019 Artbox Project Miami 2.0, ArtBasel Artweeks, Switzerland

2019 Modern Vanguard International Competition, Sicilia, Italy 

AWARDS

2019 Animalistic art contest “Animal Portrait”, Russia

2017 “The Story of One Cup”, Art-Donbass Gallery, Ukraine 2017 Animal World, Art-Donbass Gallery, Ukraine

2021 Semifinalist, Artbox Projects World 1.0, Switzerland 

2020 Prizewinner, Golden Time Talent, International contest

2019 Prizewinner, "Modern Vanguard", Artweeks, Italy

2019 Prizewinner, Animal Portrait Contest, Russia

The artist has several international  publications.