Today we’d like to introduce you to Natasha Kanevski.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I spent my childhood in my mom’s art studio. I remember her creating magic in the heavy small of oil paint. In my mom’s family, almost everyone was and is an artist. So, of course, I wanted to join this family tradition. But, unfortunately, in the 90s, Soviet Union’s economy has passed through a long and wrenching depression far greater than the United States experienced during the Great Depression. So it was out of the question for me to get a profession that could not provide an opportunity to earn money. Since I have a broad spectrum of skills, so to say, I became an economist and built a pretty good carrier back in Israel. (I emigrated to Israel in 1999, at age 22, by the way, completely alone.) After I moved to Texas in 2019 (yep, the second emigration! With husband and kids this time), I took this as an opportunity to pursue my lifelong passion for art and shifted my focus to painting full-time. So, now, after two years, I’ve become an award-winning artist specializing in heavy-textured/sculptured expressionistic paintings. My art is kept in private collections all over the world. Despite the pandemic, my artworks were recently exhibited in 10 Art Shows (Los Angeles and Texas), including Solo and Duo Exhibits. In addition (I need to earn money: artists don’t have to starve), I am running a successful 5-star Etsy, Instagram, and Facebook shops.
Building an art business from scratch and managing it in the right way fascinates me no less than mastering new techniques and materials, being in the creative process of self-expression in paintings, and understanding myself within the framework of contemporary art.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh, they were and are a bunch of struggles:
1. As an economist, I knew how crucial is marketing, but I couldn’t even imagine that it would take 80% of my time.
2. I am new to the art market, but I am a middle-aged woman.
3. I am new to the country and have a funny accent.
4. On top of it, I am an introvert!
5. Ah, and the pandemic! My kids were home this entire time!
In the Art business, you need to network to create exhibit opportunities and get people to know you. Needless to say that because of all the above, I avoid networking by all means!
But I have such a supportive husband. He and the kiddos are my biggest fans, and they are always there to remind me how proud they are of me, how far I have come in this short amount of time despite all the difficulties.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am working in that sweet spot between painting and sculpture. This definitely sets me apart from other painters and/or sculptors. I specialize in heavy-textured/sculptured expressionistic paintings. Most of my artworks are in vibrant colors, full of energy and life. However, I’ve recently started to work monochromatically, too, to allow the attention to concentrate on the subtle shifts in form, color, and form. The monochromatic painting focuses more on texture and composition. My black&white series is currently exhibited at Art Gallery “Degallery”, Bryan, TX.
Contrasting texture and colors are the visual languages I use to express my ideas and feelings.
For example, weightless flower petals are depicted in my artworks as voluminous and massive, rough, simplified. Such a painting communicates the fragility of life itself rather than describing the appearance of a particular flower. It is not the flower that is conceptualized, but what we like in its fragility.
I continue this line in my abstract paintings: our roughness, wrinkles, irregularities, cracks only emphasize our humanity, revealing our essence, our tenderness, purity, and completeness, the fact that we are infinitely beautiful in our fragility and mortality.
More generally, in my art, I research how our attention works.
We all look at life quite polarly; we select from our surroundings specific objects and significant phenomena. Sometimes we do that intentionally, or we cannot do otherwise. We all (# covid19) have a vital need to focus on what, like a crutch, helps move to the moment here and now, closing our eyes to our life situation. As a result, the reality is distorted, simplified to two sentences, looks clumsy, somewhat rough, and even vulgar.
This selectivity of attention, the way it inevitably distorts reality, sticking out, and greatly exaggerating specific details, is my work’s theme and idea.
What are your plans for the future?
Same: painting, exhibiting, marketing, repeat.
Contact Info:
- Email: art.by.natasha.kanevski@gmail.com
- Website: etsy.com/shop/ArtByNatashaKanevski
- Instagram: instagram.com/art.by.natasha.kanevski
- Facebook: facebook.com/ArtByNatashaKanevski
