My Whale (Mi Ballena) Painting

Lenny B. (Elena Volkova) is a figurative expressionist artist and political refugee currently based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Defining herself as a "former Russian," Lenny’s work is a radical act of identity reconstruction. After escaping a life shaped by systemic dysfunction and the shadow of the KGB in Moscow, she has dedicated her practice to the visceral deconstruction of the "Russian cultural code." Her journey from a high-profile career in commercial photography to the physical intensity of oil painting marks a transition from silence to testimony. Lenny’s art is not merely an aesthetic choice but a survival strategy and a clinical documentation of internal catastrophe. Her work has been recognized for its raw, uncompromising honesty, navigating the complex intersections of trauma, exile, and the pursuit of humanistic values. ​Artist Statement My art is an exercise in excision. I use oil paint as a physical substance to scrape away the layers of a forced identity, searching for what remains in the void. Working primarily with heavy impasto and palette knives, I treat the canvas as a site of psychological excavation. Each stroke is a rejection of the "muta brutality" I witnessed growing up in a society built on systemic violence. My paintings—often featuring distorted figures and haunting landscapes—reflect the reality of GAD, PTSD, and the fragmented memory of an exile. I do not aim to comfort the viewer; I aim to document the "Final Point"—the moment where imperial myths collapse and the human spirit must rebuild from scratch. Living and working in Argentina has provided me with the "air" necessary to speak. My work is a tribute to the resilience of the individual against the machine of propaganda, and a call to protect the ultimate humanistic value: life itself. ​ Upcoming Launch On January 19, 2026, Lenny B. will release her debut artbook—a comprehensive manifesto and visual archive of her struggle against state-sponsored silence and the reclamation of personal freedom.