Meet Elena Samarsky

 

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elena Samarsky. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elena below.

Elena, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?

As an abstract artist working in the style of abstract expressionism and gestural abstraction, I rely on intuition and imagination to guide my process. Reinventing the familiar and tapping into worlds of imagination can be an intense experience, often leading to emotional, intellectual, and physical burnout. Sometimes, the work flows effortlessly for weeks; other times, exhaustion sets in, and maintaining creativity at a high level becomes a challenge.
Over the years, I’ve learned that creativity can’t be forced. It’s far more beneficial to take breaks, even though stepping away—whether for a few days or several weeks—can be difficult. However, I’ve found it necessary. Pausing, even in the middle of a painting, allows me to return with fresh energy and new ideas. Deadlines and commissions make this even more challenging, but in those cases, I still take shorter breaks, shifting my focus to other things that bring me joy. Sometimes, I won’t even step into my studio.
What always brings me back to my creative state is nature. Both natural and manmade landscapes inspire me, offering a sense of freedom and renewal. Getting lost in the woods or wandering through a densely populated area is both invigorating and grounding. In recent years, hiking has become my ultimate reset. The visual stimulation of walking through forests and mountains, the physical exertion, and the ever-changing scenery help clear my mind and restart my creative process.
I’ve thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, climbed Mauna Kea and Kilimanjaro, and completed many shorter hikes. Each journey has provided me with new experiences that fuel my creativity, offering fresh perspectives that inevitably find their way into my work.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a Ukrainian-born Israeli, a self-taught visual artist inspired by abstract expressionism. Although I began painting in my mid-20s, it was a few years later, while pursuing my Ph.D. in Oxford, that I had my first exhibition. After completing my Ph.D., I decided to focus on my art career.
Growing up in Ukraine, I was exposed to Eastern European avant-garde art, which left a lasting impression on me. In my 20s and 30s, I was fortunate to live in Vienna, Berlin, and London, where I immersed myself in European art. Eventually, moving to the U.S. allowed me to explore Abstract Expressionism in greater depth. My multicultural background and experiences living in different countries add layers of depth to my work. Exposure to diverse cultures and landscapes has influenced my color choices, compositions, and how I approach abstraction, infusing my art with a sense of movement and texture that reflects my varied experiences.
For me, the essence of art lies not in the motif but in the act of creation itself: the velocity of the gestures, the tensions between brush and canvas, hand and brush, paint and tool. The goal is to achieve a balance between texture, composition, and color. My paintings are rich with texture, created through broken color, uneven saturation, crude paint application, the forceful removal or forging of base layers, and the scratching, scraping, and peeling of the surface. Paraphrasing art critic Harold Rosenberg, at some point, the canvas becomes a bounded arena, depicting not a picture but events. This resonates with me—my paintings capture a snapshot of a specific moment in creation: a moment of movement, emotion, and of me.
Since shifting my focus to my art career, I have been dedicated to showcasing my work. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of exhibiting across various European countries and throughout the U.S., as well as building lasting relationships with artist-in-residence programs at OAC in Missouri and Red Barn in Kansas. I find great inspiration in my trips to the Midwest, where the rural landscapes, prairies, grass and crop fields, and vast open spaces inspired my mini-series “Birds of Paradise” and the “Abstract Landscape” series.
I also value these residencies as spaces to meet other artists and collaborate. At OAC, I worked with literary artists, and I was fortunate to have my artwork featured on book covers. I also co-authored an art and poetry book, All Other Forms of Expression: Paintings and Poems by Elena Samarsky and Timothy Tarkelly.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Resilience, openness to new experiences, and flexibility are the three qualities that have guided me on my artistic journey. These traits have helped me push through rejection, continuously evolve, and adapt to new opportunities and challenges.
The first quality is resilience—the ability to persevere in the face of rejection. Rejection is an inevitable part of any journey, and setbacks are bound to occur. However, maintaining belief in yourself, even when it’s difficult, allows you to keep creating, evolving, and ultimately finding the right opportunities.
The second quality is openness to new experiences. This includes a willingness to continuously learn, experiment, and explore both within and beyond your artistic practice. Embracing new experiences, hobbies, or experimental art practices keeps creativity fresh, broadens perspective, and provides unexpected sources of inspiration.
The final quality is flexibility. In my experience, flexibility has manifested in adjusting my path without abandoning my goals or dreams. It means being open to changing how those goals are achieved. Embracing flexibility allows you to navigate challenges, take unexpected directions, and seize opportunities that may ultimately lead to fulfilling your artistic aspirations.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I thrive on collaboration and love creating meaningful connections through art. My work has been featured on book covers, in literary journals, and displayed within local businesses, transforming spaces and making art more accessible to everyone. If you’re an artist seeking collaboration or a local business looking to enrich your environment with bold, immersive pieces, let’s collaborate and bring something unique to life together!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

All taken by Elena Samarsky

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