Possessing a true artist's eye [purchased from a mysterious shaman and kept in her front pocket], Kalina’s work spans the mediums of pen, paint and pixels. Her days as a Director of Motion Graphics are followed by nights spent creating art and tapping the web for inspiration. ALCHEMY is the result of her most intense melding with the WorldWideWeb yet; “The internet and I have become BFFs throughout the making of this series,” she says. Though the four primary elements are her subjects, Kalina knew from the start that she wanted to explore the human element through personality types, animal totems, and astrological interpretations. “For inspiration and ideas I spent many a time researching weird clipart-heavy astrological websites riddled with animated GIFs created by enthusiastic New Age flower children. [..] the internet is one amazingly strange place.”
From her elemental guardians, she extended her work by asking the question, “How do we interact with these elements? Through the senses!” And so were born, in the beer-fueled haze of the creative process, the humorous minions. From these playful characters to her regal mistresses, Kalina was influenced by human personalities and how they shape one's reactions to and dealings with the environment around them. She was fascinated by the idea that life is full of gradients despite all of the black and white misconceptions that exist. The many layers of qualities and flaws that compose a person are often overlooked by surface perceptions. This is reflected in her feelings about art in general: “I love something that is clean, vector almost, but, when you get up-close, is actually natural, hand-drawn, not quite perfect [because I don’t believe in perfection]”. And what better way to bring human imperfection to the pure elements than through the transformative powers of ALCHEMY.
This series originally premiered at Screaming Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
