Art by Elena Kalman

Ukraine Defiant

This series of works was exhibited at The Museum of Russian Art of Minneapolis (March 3, 2023 -July 15, 2023)

Some interviews with Elena Kalman can be viewed at:

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/03/08/ukraine-defiant-a-russian-art-museum-grapples-with-a-russian-war

https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/new-ukraine-defiant-exhibit-at-museum-of-russian-art-depicts-first-year-of-war/

https://www.startribune.com/two-minneapolis-art-exhibits-coincide-with-the-russian-ukraine-wars-one-year-anniversary/600263441/

The recent article in New York Times can be seen at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/18/arts/design/museum-of-russian-art-ukraine-war.html

Kalman was born in Kiev, Ukraine, graduated from Kiev Art Institute after studying in the Moscow Architectural Institute, and even though she has resided in the US for many years, she is still very much involved in the Ukrainian crisis. Her new series of paintings is dedicated to the Ukrainian struggle in the current war.
Most of the pieces in this series take their names from a poem Kalman composed recently.

Ukraine Defiant
Ukraine invaded, bloodied, trampled and burned
Her fields are plowed with bombs and sown with bones
Her mothers weep, her sky is overcast
She dreams of the future, and she dreams of the past
Her children torn away, uprooted, lost
She fights in spite of pain, in spite of cost
Her enemies predict defeat and doom
But she will win, will live again and bloom!

This series of paintings consists of landscapes devoid of people, rather than of battle scenes and suffering wartime victims. The paintings follow the tradition of descriptive narratives of environs in classical prose which set up the mood. Sad feelings permeate the atmosphere of each of these paintings, but there is hope in them as well.
The title painting, “Ukraine Defiant,” has the proportions of a square. The composition of the painting is circular, though, causing the eye to follow the swirling feathers of fighting birds, the wings of which form the diagonals of the square.
In contrast, all of the other paintings are elongated, with the length of each painting being twice its height. All of these paintings are organized along a diagonal dissecting the entire painting. This compositional device emphasizes the movement inherent in each painting. The paintings are about struggle, about explosions, about fire and destruction. The winds and rains and stormy clouds are present in each of them. There are several obvious symbols interspersed throughout all the paintings, such as flowers, crosses, ravens, and fires.
Kalman uses all sorts of materials to make the surfaces of the paintings dynamic and expressive. Torn pieces of paper, old paintings, fabrics, and plastic trash bags are used for texture. A lot of paint is applied with a palette knife. Brush strokes are gestural and follow movements which are at the heart of every painting. The colors are bold. The intent is to evoke immediate reaction in the viewer. However, there are also small details that only reveal themselves upon close inspection. These add to the understanding of each painting.

This art installation calls attention to the violence that erupted in Russia on November 7, 1917, making the twentieth century the bloodiest one in human history. Unfortunately, the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union did not bring about democratization of the country, nor did it ameliorate its aggressiveness. In fact, the ongoing Ukrainian-Russian War shows the world yet again just how greedy the Russian government still is for world dominance.

Communist ideology promised “to achieve a socialist system of society, which, by eliminating the division of mankind into classes, by eliminating all exploitation of man by man and
nation by nation, will inevitably eliminate the very possibility of war.” * These utopian sentiments appealed to many good, common people and created fertile ground for the Russian Revolution of 1917, which in turn led to the horrific Russian Civil War of 1917-1923 and the creation of one of history’s most virulent, long-lasting tyrannical regimes – The Soviet Union. This Communist totalitarian regime not only brought pain and suffering to practically every family in Russia, but also spread into Eastern Europe, Asia, and Central and South America.

On February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation’s president, Vladimir Putin, with a military force of 180,000 soldiers, brutally invaded the independent and democratic neighboring nation of Ukraine. This criminal and merciless aggression was neither provoked nor warranted. Putin’s latest immoral and illegitimate assault on Ukraine is just the most recent in a long series of aggressions against sovereign countries including Moldova, Georgia, and Syria. The Russian government’s cruelty in suppressing separatist movements in Chechnya and its prosecution of dissidents inside the country are well documented.

Many believe that this trend, if not swiftly stopped, is likely to continue – with devastating global consequences. If Putin is successful in subjugating Ukraine, he will attempt to invade and occupy other independent European nations. Disturbing parallels can be drawn with Nazi Germany, where Adolf Hitler did not stop at annexing Austria, instead marching his army on, engulfing the entire world in the evilest of wars and killing 80 million people.

Shattered Dreams, Elena Kalman’s site-specific installation at the Bijou Box in October and November of 2017, illustrated the Russian government’s past and present ruthless aggression.
Currently, it is directed against independent nations which broke off from the Soviet Union (of which Ukraine is just the latest example) and against any dissent inside Russia.

The installation consisted of white and black fabric, mesh, and plastic sheets rising at different angles. These shapes were reminiscent of flags and military tents – symbols of violence; of thin bridal veils – symbols of innocence; and black veils –symbols of mourning. The entire space was intersected by a red “scar” comprised of painted plastic and wood elements. The installation, measuring approximately 40’ by 40’ by 18’ high, filled the entire gallery space.

* Lenin, War and Revolution (1917)

Jewish Timeline is a part of an architectural and art project by Kalman where she is responsible for both the building design and several art installations throughout the building. The Timeline painting series includes 30 painting depicting the Jewish history taken through traditional biblical events all the way to projected Messianic time. The paintings will be mounted in a continuous band encircling the main sanctuary space.

PLASTIC PARADISE is a large scale installation (40'x30'x18'high) I It was originally displayed at the Bijou Box Studio Located at 150 Elm Street in Bridgeport, CT in February-March 2018.

Two years later Kalman created a similar installation for the gallery at the Art Center of the Yona College in New Rochelle, New York. it was called: PLASTIC PARADISE REDUX.

The installation is built entirely of plastics, including construction drop cloths, garbage bags, tubes and spheres, etc.

The themes of this installation include: proliferation of plastic production globally and in US, depletion of natural resources, pollution caused by careless disposal of plastics.  Kalman is also questioning a perennial dream of humans to create paradise on earth. All such attempts from Tower of Babel to Communism failed, so far...

Below is a fable Kalman composed to go with this installation.

Creation: Day N+1

by Elena Kalman

Fable of Creation from Day Seven Through Day N+1

It is written that God created the world in six days, looked around and saw all He had made, and found it very good.

At first humans were placed in Paradise, which was perfect in every aspect. On the perfect, sunny morning of the seventh day, the First Man and his First Lady woke up early, just as dew was descending onto the blades of grass. Every perfect dew drop reflected all the other perfect dew drops, and each of them in turn reflected the superior beauty of a perfect garden filled with fantastic flowers and trees bearing the most sumptuous fruits, and with the most adorable and peaceful animals and birds and butterflies. Infinite peace and the fulfilment of every human desire were abundant and nothing needed to be done to obtain them.

However, humans are curious creatures and get bored easily, even with perfection. So naturally they ate the forbidden fruit, were kicked out of Paradise, and thereby set the course of history in motion.

The planet the humans were dropped onto had something called “Nature,” which was far from perfect. It had a certain unpredictability and was hard to adapt to. The humans were nostalgic for Paradise and wanted to correct Nature to be more like the perfect garden they longed for. So the humans started to change Nature and they called it “Progress.”  First they just used the materials Nature offered and made things out of them: they used stone to build houses, wood to build ships, grain to bake bread. Soon they discovered how to improve the natural materials and made steel out of ore and explosives out of sulfur and we all know what these innovations led to…

The next step in “improving” Nature was “Chemical Science,” when new “supernatural” materials were invented. They called them “plastics.” Plastics were light, strong and easy to shape into anything and, most importantly, unlike natural materials, plastics did not deteriorate – they lasted and lasted. The plastics achieved immortality, even if the humans had yet to do so. It was a significant step toward a perfect world. The only hitch was that the plastics were produced out of natural materials, which were finite. More and more natural materials were used to make plastics until Nature was finally obliterated and the whole world became filled with light, strong, indestructible and perfect plastics.

On Day N+1 the humans looked around and saw all they made, and found it very...

DREAMERS

COMMISSIONED ART INSTALLATION

“Dreamers” was commissioned to Kalman as a result Art Competition to design a permanent art installation for the facade of the Iona College Art Center, New Rochelle, NY. 2018.

Creative people are often referred to as “dreamers.” They are not like other human beings. They live on two different planes: a normal existence with its day to day worries and chores and a much bigger, brighter more exciting world in their heads.

The “Dreamers,” an installation by Elena Kalman created for the Iona College Art Center, New Rochelle, NY represents these two planes of the artist’s existence. The five abstract figures attached to the building literally have their heads turned. Their eight-foot tall bodies are flat and attached to the wall with approximately one inch spacer bars. However, their heads measuring eight feet high are projecting up to 30” from the wall at a ninety degree angle. The heads and bodies of the figures are all different and have various cut-outs representing the arts. The first one of the heads has a guitar shaped cut-out, the second one – a dancing figure, the third – a paint brush and a pallet with paints; the fourth – a theatrical half mask and the fifth – several musical notes. Thus, visual arts, theater, dance and music are all illustrated in this piece. Shadows thrown by the heads onto the wall change during day and add another dimension to the sculpture.  

On a practical note: the protruding part of the installation starts at eight feet above grade, goes out gradually and does not interfere with pedestrians on the sidewalk. The entire sculpture measures 16’ high and 15’ wide, perfectly fitting the designated wall. Each of the figures is lined up with the center line of existing facing stones thereby coordinating it with the design and scale of the existing structure.

In June of 2017, Elena Kalman and a fellow artist, Susan Hoffman Fishman developed a large-scale installation on climate change in a black-box space in Bridgeport, CT. Comprised of red, orange, and blue polycarbonate film, plastic, acrylic, parachute cord, fabric and live plant material, Anthropocene imagines a life on Earth in which raging fires from a heated planet are the norm and plastic has overtaken the environment.

The most valuable object in human possession - a small patch of wild flowers is sheltered from the fires by a white tent which is already singed at the edges. Soon even this last remnant of nature will be gone...

The installation measures 17' high x 20 feet wide x 20' long.

Water media, acrylics and collage on paper, 33” x 25”

The series of five works entitled Garden Opera concentrates on images from the ideal garden, where all creatures, including plants, insects and humans, interact in harmony regardless of their size and place on the food chain.

Elena Kalman sees the painting process as a performance, with her as conductor and the marks on the paper as her orchestra. The paint splashes are the first violins, the cutouts of her old paintings collaged into the new ones are the vocalists, the washes are the string section, the faintest pencil lines are the flutes, the thick textured acrylics are the brass, and the collaged three-dimensional reliefs are the percussion instruments. 

THE WAVE

The Wave is a national, interactive, public art project celebrating water and its vital function in our lives. It was created jointly by Elena Kalman and Susan Hoffman Fishman.  Since September of 2011, The Wave has been installed in 23 museums, galleries, schools, universities, community centers, festival and parks including: The Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA); The National Aquarium (Baltimore, MD); The Rose Kennedy Greenway (Boston, MA); The Wadsworth Atheneum (Hartford, CT); Allegra LaViola Gallery (NYC); Governor's Island (NYC); The New Britain Museum of American Art (New Britain, CT), and others. 

Origins of the Project

On March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.03 earthquake, centered in Japan, triggered powerful tsunami waves that reached heights of up to 133 feet and shifted the Earth on its axis a distance estimated between 4 and 10 inches. The ensuing tsunami devastated the island country, leaving millions of people without homes, electricity and clean water and triggering nuclear meltdowns in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Waves resulting from the tsunami reached throughout the Pacific Ocean, including the coastal areas of California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and western Alaska. 

Here, in Connecticut, my fellow artist, Susan Hoffman Fishman, and I were struck by violent storms caused throughout New England by that 2011 tsunami in Japan literally 'connecting' us all to one another: this enormous wave originating across the world and traveling from continent to continent before washing up on our own 'back door.' We talked about developing a project that would visually represent how dramatically we are all connected, regardless of our nationality, religious preferences, race or other artificial divisions, by our mutual dependence on water, one of the most fundamental requirements for life on Earth and by our mutual susceptibility to the impact of major water events like tsunamis, rising tides, floods and drought.

The Wave as Public Art

During our conversations, we discussed an appropriate format for the project, which we eventually dubbed, The Wave. Because we wanted to emphasize the universal nature of water, our individual and community responsibility to protect this vital resource and the theme of 'connected-ness,' we felt very strongly that it needed to be a community engagement, interactive, public art program.

Public art is generally described as any work that is exhibited, and sometimes created, in public spaces so that it is accessible to the general public, not just those who frequent museums and galleries. We chose to create a public art project because, by its very purpose, public art is meant to enrich communities, provoke discussion and heighten awareness of significant public issues and events. An interactive, public art project enables members of the community, not just the artists, to participate in the creation of the work of art itself.  Interactive public art inspires creativity among participants around a specific topic, generates community pride and fosters connections among the participants. 

The Wave Design

We designed The Wave with these goals in mind. Because the material we use (recyclable, polycarbonate film) is especially unusual, enticing and beautiful, and because it is so easy to simply cut a piece into a wave-like shape, each individual coming to a Wave site can feel successful. Thousands of children as young as five, entire school communities including parents, staff, teachers and students of all abilities and ages, adults who are normally intimidated by making art and seniors, have all embraced the opportunity to 'connect' their pieces to the growing, glowing and undulating Wave that we hope will roll right across the country and beyond. People have asked us why we join the pieces together with black parachute cord that shows up so prominently as an integral part of the installation. Why not use transparent fishing wire or some other invisible material? And, of course, that is the point. We are using the black cord to emphasize how this Wave is being created, piece by piece, connecting individuals, communities, states and, hopefully, an entire nation, to one another.

 “November Roads” is comprised of five paintings in watercolor and mixed media on paper, each measuring 41” x 56”.

They are about driving along country roads in the fall, when the weather is changing constantly and you are thinking about millions of things that have nothing to do with where you are going or where you are coming from. 

When we choose a road and try to follow it, we encounter conflict between going straight to our goal and all kinds of incidental things that happen to distract us along the way. My paintings are reflective of this conflict.

The composition of the paintings is very rigid: the proportions of the paper are based on the golden section, while within the paintings there are straight lines delineating squares, triangles and golden section elements, depicting boundaries of the roads the surrounding landscapes. But within these rigid geometric shapes, and sometimes blurring them, are many free, unruly shapes – sometimes abstract and sometimes resembling fantastic plants, animals or faces.

In a sense, the “November Roads” series is about issues of control and spontaneity, pursuing the goal and enjoying the road, planning and dreaming.

Several projects designed by Elena Kalman, AIA as a part of her  architectural practice include art installations designed by her.

To see more architectural projects by the firm lead by Elena Kalman, AIA go to: www.kalmandesign.com

HOME AND OPEN HOUSE

HOME is an interactive, public art installation on the universal meaning of home, the tragedy of homelessness and the need for affordable housing in our towns and cities. HOME was conceived by Elena Kalman and fellow artist, Susan Hoffman Fishman in 2015, in partnership with New Neighborhoods, Inc. and Pacific House, two non-profit, housing institutions in Stamford, CT.  

The topic of homelessness and the need for affordable housing are not easy ones to discuss in a town that prides itself on its high standard of living and economic stronghold. Recognizing the power of art to engage the heart and the senses around big issues as well as start conversations and spark creativity in a way that words, statistics and facts cannot, the artists and their partners engaged the Stamford community in a highly visible, public art project calling attention to this very real and critical community need.

During the fall of 2015 through 2016, participants from all segments of society, including members of the homeless community and beneficiaries of affordable housing, attended a series of 7 HOME-Making Events, at which they depicted in words and images their own personal meaning of 'home' and 'homelessness' on pieces of corrugated cardboard. In November of 2016, the corrugated 'box boards' were attached by the artists onto the framework of a physical building structure, consisting of 2 x 4 lengths of lumber, and installed in the atrium of the Stamford, CT Government Center to represent the community's response to the fundamental need for and importance of home. As part of the project's overall goal of educating the public, the artists and their partner organizations held a press conference in the Government Center, at which representatives of local and state government and advocacy groups spoke eloquently on the topic.   

The images shown here are of the finished HOME structure as well as well as sample photographs of the hundreds of participants who completed 'box boards' for the project.

Open House: Hartford

In December of 2016, Elena Kalman and Susan Hoffman Fishmaninstalled a version of HOME, entitled, Open House: Hartford, at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford, CT. The installation was comprised of: (1) lengths of black and red parachute cord that 'shot' from the ceiling, corners, walls, and floor of the gallery, suggesting the outlines of a building structure; and (2) the same 'box boards' that were previously part of the original HOME installation, but were hung here as an integral part of the complex cord configuration and served as randomly placed 'walls,' 'floor' and 'ceiling' of the abstract structure.  Open House served as a powerful metaphor for the fragmentation or deconstruction of every aspect of one's life without the grounding of a home.  

A series of ten 12” porcelain clay sculptures.

Rare are people who feel complete, self-sufficient, and fully independent of others and of the world around them.  We are all incomplete in a way. The artist who is not working feels incomplete. Her head is empty of creative ideas, her hands are idle. She feels like an empty shell with only two legs to propel her through her day.

This series of sculptures by Elena Kalman depicts human bodies devoid of heads and arms. Yet the figures interact – their body language is expressive and emotional, despite the fact that they are not fully developed. The highest, most important human functions are missing…

Paintings in watercolor and pastel on paper

Every architect has unrealized ideas – ideas that are devoid of function or simply too abstract to be used in real buildings.

During her years as a practicing architect, Elena Kalman has accumulated a large body of sketches, as well as paintings in watercolor and pastel, expressing her three-dimensional but unrealized ideas.

The watercolors are 30” x 30” and 25” x 38”. The pastels are 48” x 72”. The pieces have been exhibited numerous times in New York and Connecticut galleries and some of them are now in private collections. 

Water media, acrylics and collage on paper, 40” x 26”

Elena Kalman’s paintings fuse the intense energy of action painting with the whimsicality of caricature; they express emotions ranging from the dark and dangerous to the lyrical and childish.

Elena loves to see how water media hits paper.  She welcomes all smudges, runs, and drops and marvels at their unexpected interactions.  In these random marks she finds smiles of dear friends and old acquaintances, fantastic creatures, and landscapes glanced only briefly long ago or in dreams.  These marks are her partners and co-creators.

Water media is just the beginning of the process.  Elena’s paintings have areas of bare paper and areas of thick, unrecognizable mass. She likes having a variety of textures and techniques all mix together to create a symphony of visual experiences. 

Her art is more about free association than about premeditation.  It always ends up dealing with the notion of control in art and in life, and about not taking the notion of control too seriously. 

A series of photographs taken during the renovation of the Post Office building in Stamford, Connecticut

Stamford’s Post Office building is one of the city’s most significant examples of historic architecture. Erected in 1919 and expanded in 1939, this 30,000-square-foot building is a fine example of the Neo-Renaissance style of architecture and boasts many outstanding details.

Architect Elena Kalman, AIA, is working on repurposing the building to serve as a food court and retail mall featuring a variety of restaurants surrounding an open seating area on the main floor and several retail establishments on the lower level.

In addition to taking many renovation-related photos, Elena also took numerous photos of mold-covered walls, tattered window coverings, broken mailboxes and other decayed elements specifically for this collection.

Acrylic, water media, pencil, oil crayon and fabric collage on canvas, 100” x 72”

Elena Kalman completed this painting in August 2015 while in residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

This was the first time Elena traveled to the Midwestern section of America. She was quite taken by the cornfields, vast skies and open horizons of Nebraska. Hot winds swept through the streets of the small city and shook the apple trees in the orchards causing them to drop their fruit to the grass below. The sun always seemed to be high and every tree, every cornstalk and every blade of grass seemed to be reaching for it, as if trying to break away from their earthly confines and fly upward to the celestial source of all energy. 

In her painting called “Upward,” Elena tried to express the burning desire of all living things – trees, fish, animals and humans – to express their potential to the fullest.

“Shine always,

       Shine everywhere,

               Compete with the Sun,” said the famous Russian poet, Vladimir Mayakovsky.

Mid-Summer Day’s Dream

By Elena Kalman and Susan Hoffman Fishman

Project Description

The twelve paintings that comprise Mid-Summer Day’s Dream are a sequential narrative relating the experience of an ordinary day interrupted by a life-changing event. They represent a physical and spiritual journey along a path through the dunes to the ocean. As the viewer follows the paintings in sequence, the images progress from a more representational to an increasingly abstract format. The first two paintings are clearly recognizable landscapes depicting a road through a stand of trees on a foggy morning that eventually leads to the beach.  The calmness and subdued sadness of the first paintings dramatically contrasts with the agitation and passionate mood swings of the later ones, in which the journey eventually reaches a climactic moment of immersion and near drowning in the ocean. By the end of the painting sequence and the journey itself, the viewer emerges into a different world, forever changed.

Creative Process: Two Artists Create One Visual Narrative            

Artists, by nature, are solitary beings. Fiercely protective of their individual creative visions, they relish their unique artistic processes, often not allowing anyone to see the products of their work until they are good and ready for any outside interaction or critique.

Artists, Susan Hoffman Fishman and Elena Kalman, have challenged this status quo by collaborating on a series of 12 multi-media paintings on paper, each 4’ x 8’ in size, entitled, Mid-Summer Day’s Dream. Both artists combined their artistic visions and their working methods in the execution of each individual painting, from the conceptual stage to its actual execution.  In order to accomplish this radical feat, the artists challenged themselves to create a finished product that they both could agree met their individual, artistic visual criteria, but they also needed to do so by establishing a harmonious working process. The end result is not the work of either artist but of the artistic partnership.

Outdoor Installations

When working on outdoor installations, Elena Kalman always ensures that they fit seamlessly into the surrounding landscape. Most of these art pieces are produced by combining elements of nature with artificial materials.

When a tree was damaged by Hurricane Irene and had to be cut down, Elena retrieved segments of its trunk and inserted sections of Plexiglas randomly sprayed with red paint between them. The piece is called “Cut Up” and invokes a feeling of violence and pain.

Elena’s “Ice Patch in August” is a playful installation included in the Collaborative Concepts at Saunders Farm 2011 Exhibition in Garrison, New York. The rocks, fallen branches and plant material are arranged around an indentation in the ground filled with crushed tempered glass and covered with a sheet of Plexiglas. The piece creates an impression of an iced-over pond found in the middle of a green meadow.

The commissioned piece "Caterpillar Cavern", measuring 40' long x 12'wide x 10 high, is included in LightScapes spring annual festival at the Van Cortland Manor, Hudson Valley, NY. Taking place over 20 spring evenings and perfect for all ages, LIGHTSCAPES is a walk-through, land-art experience. The sculpture is assembled using a prefabricated gazebo structure with additional wire framework and fabric over it. The eyes are made of 24" diameter skylights painted on the inside. The whiskers are the plastic plumbing tubes. The most important element of this piece is LED lighting, which changes color every few minutes. Taking place over 20 spring evenings and perfect for all ages, LIGHTSCAPES is a walk-through, land-art experience.

UNNATURAL

Multimedia relief on wood in wood frame covered with tempered glass, 30” x 72” x 6” high

The surreal landscapes in this series represent worlds without life. These may be other worlds or dystopian visions of our planet’s future. They may also be interpreted as the inner worlds of people not living full lives, but just enduring their day-to-day existence without purpose or joy.

Elena Kalman combines materials and techniques to show the ruins of civilization, with dried-out forests, chemical-filled rivers and frozen seas. The reliefs are enclosed in wood boxes and covered with tempered glass in order to serve as table tops or counters. The installations include LED lights.

This series of works is ongoing and new images will be added shortly.

These small sketches were done by Kalman while she was recovering from corona virus in April 2020.

Each page is 9”x9” and the materials are: Prismacolor Pencils black paper.