"Striving up." Exhibition of works by Elena Starostina

An exhibition of works by Elena Vladimirovna Starostina, a member of the Moscow Union of Artists, a member of the International Art Fund, opens in the exhibition halls of the Russian Academy of Arts (Moscow, Prechistenka 21). The main theme of the works presented in the exposition is the spiritual ascent of man.

Elena Starostina turned to the idea of raising a person above everyday life even during her studies at the faculty of design at the Moscow State Art and Industry Academy named after S. G. Stroganov. Carried away by Old Russian architecture, Starostina began working in the Novgorod restoration workshops, participated in the restoration of the Arakcheev barracks and the St. George Monastery, which was the beginning of a spiritual upsurge for her. After graduation, E.V. Starostina continued her professional activities at the Soyuzrestavratsiya design workshop in the department of decorative and applied art, where she participated in restoration projects of the Bolshoi Theater, the Grand Kremlin Palace, Kuskovo Estate, the Architect’s House, Ulyanovsk and Tver museums. The active position of the author in the formation of the artistic and aesthetic appearance of Moscow did not go unnoticed. Her personal and group exhibitions were held in museums of the capital and abroad - in Bucharest, Vienna, cities of Germany and the Netherlands.

Thematically, the exhibition is dedicated to urban and mountain landscapes. In her series “The City”, Elena Starostina not only shows the roofs of European cities - Rome, Munich, Pisa, Aachen, etc., but invites the viewer to see places familiar to everyone from unusual angles. Climbing the towers of the cathedrals, elevated places, she seeks to understand the policy as a synthesis of the efforts of many previous generations, as a constantly changing system with its dominants, functional parts and the necessary buildings. Often distances, a network of streets, the structure of a city are visible and comprehensible only from a high point. The bird’s-eye perspective chosen by the artist goes beyond everyday life and gives us a sense of freedom and greatness.

The theme of climbing smoothly goes into a series of mountain landscapes. Numerous sketches and sketches contributed to the development of the technique that the artist used for the Mountains series - colored mascara, modeling paste and a transparent layer of oil. Layering emphasizes lightness, color intensity and gives the impression of moving shadows on the stone.

A person who has visited the mountains at least once, sees life in a different light, opens up new horizons in the spiritual sense. This very well characterizes the work of Starostina, for whom the theme of height and spiritual development form a single whole, creating the main leitmotif of her works.

Elena Starostina prefers monochrome color schemes that help her convey the unique atmosphere of each individual place. The author does not create naturalistic views, but rather focuses the viewer’s attention on certain fragments, tearing out the details that are of interest to him from the vast panorama, which creates the illusion of timeless hovering over space.