Woman in a Gucci Swimsuit Painting

Yelena Mirchevskaya was born in Moscow, Russia and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She received her BFA from Parsons School of Design, majoring in Communication Design and Technology, with a focus on motion graphics. Yelena is constantly inspired by her experience as an immigrant from the former USSR. She always felt compelled to portray the people and objects that were part of her upbringing. Her work celebrates the real, in all its unflattering and peculiar glory. Yelena often draws and paints subjects that are not staged and not embellished in any way, with the hope that she can capture a reality that people tend to miss. Working mostly in watercolors and ink, her most recent series focuses on the people of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.