Mystele Kirkeeng is a self taught, acrylic-mixed media folk artist living in Illinois by way of Texas. She loves developing abstracted Read More
Category: Drawing Ink
Elena Shved’s grunge effect watercolor horse paintings
[The style of art as grunge art has become very popular lately. The word grunge, coined by the writer Paul Ramball, most of us associate with the subgenre of alternative rock originating in Seattle during the 1980’s. But, what about grunge art? Does such a movement, or such a phenomenon even exist? In design, typography, or the production of various other images, can we pinpoint a style and call it that? Regarding fashion aesthetics, the idea of ripped jeans, greasy hair, and worn-out t-shirts are generally connected to an idea of grunge, but in the visual art production, what would describe such a notion? What innovations, if any, did the grunge artists bring to the world of art?
The grunge artists and designers emphasized the idea of freedom and of breaking the rules by following one’s inner voice.
Stylistically, grunge paintings can be both abstract or figurative, but, they do lean more towards the figurative and the narrative. The depicted figures often look like cartoons or as creatures of a dream-world, showing an element of fantasy art here as well. With the atmosphere of a ‘working-class’, produced paintings above anything else erase any idea of an elegance of paint and often allow for the messy and unfinished look of the artwork.] source – widewalls.ch
In the city of Tolyatti lives a talented girl – Elena Shved, who’s paintings are classified as grunge art style. Her messy watercolor works are very appreciated all over Russia. The secret of the originality of her work lies in the fact that she uses watercolors with a high amount of diluted water. As a result each palette is so transparent, that the artist has to apply the color several times to be well seen.
Elena Shved draws on various topics, but especially beautiful in her paintings are the horses.
Here is what the artist Elena Shved says about her work:
“All the features that were in the grange as a subculture, refer to the painting as well – negligence, carelessness, contrast, “unruly”, expressive manner of performance. I like the expressive style of painting, I like all this dirt, drops, poured ink, even though I am not fully grunge like style, but in social networks my creativity, “dubbed” that way.
Once a friend asked me to draw a horse. Actually with this all started, at first it was just a custom order, and then I decided to paint a series, because my work was much appreciated. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but the horse was my favorite animal in the childhood.”
For more paintings check artist’s instagram .
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