A forthright painter faces life head-on
'The paintings are like pages out of a diary in which I have noted down all the remarkable incidents of my adult life, specially the recent years, when I've been struggling with my little child, eking out a living,' she says. Her paintings reveal the landscapes and people who have figured in her life, including the sparsely clad female forms in which she depicts herself. Thus we see her kneeling behind bushes, standing with a blond man, sharing drinks at a cafe.
My Diary contains her portrait, as so often occurs in other works. One of the paintings has her form, scattered along with a number of other people in her life, such as her son and her Norwegian boyfriend and confidant, Tom Hunstad. In this section, some of her larger paintings have been repeated and remain mind-blowing for their boldness and forthrightness. In My Dreams, we find the artist's self-portrait as it blends with nature. The environment in the painting is breathtakingly fresh and bursting with buoyancy.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Elin wants to be free from all kinds of mental stress and so she paints idyllic scenes. She often brings in green, red and blue around her figures in subtle, muted shades that play up the main subject, as in The Memory of May 1. This apparently marks a day of ecstatic happiness in her life, sharing the mythical apple of the Garden of Eden with the man of her choice.
She says that she has often been abandoned by family and friends but she will not give up her romantic dreams or the treasured memories of secret happy moments, only to appease the norms of life--as she finds around herself--today. These feelings are strongly reflected in her work where she glorifies her relationship with her friend and, at the same time, laments her occasional lonely moments, when there is no one standing by her except nature.
Elin's major group exhibitions include the 11th Asian Art Biennale this year, Peace Song at Bengal Gallery in 2003, Young Artist's Art Exhibition at the Shilpakala Art Gallery and Grand Group Exhibition of Foreign and Bangladeshi Artists at Saju Art Gallery in 2001. She is, presently, a senior art teacher at a school.