Elena Gantchikova

Welcome to the wonderful world of Elena Ganchikova-Mathisen's creative imagination.

Elena Ganchikova-Mathisen (also known as ELEGANTCHIKOVA) is a surrealist artist and musician who works in various disciplines, constantly experimenting with a combination of academic artistic techniques and cutting-edge technology.

She creates her works on a graphic tablet, using a complex, multi-layered signature technique.

The originals are printed in the Dupon laboratory in Paris on Hahnemühle fine art paper or canvas. The large-format paper is attached to an aluminum base and reinforced with metal strips to prevent deformation.

She is personally present during the printing of each original and limited series, checking the quality, signing each piece by hand and issuing certificates of authenticity. Preferring large prints to preserve the smallest details (up to 160 cm / ≈63 in on paper; up to 150 cm / ≈59 in on canvas), she also produces custom-sized works and on alternative media (aluminum, acrylic) upon request.

With perfect pitch and synesthesia (the ability to hear colors), Elena is engaged in research in the field of art synthesis, turning the results of her research into finished works of art.

She received music, theater, fine art, p...

Elena Gantchikova - Mathiesen received her art education at the Moscow Art School and at home under the guidance of two artists: her grandfather Viktor Mathiesen, a student of the first Russian Impressionist, the painter Konstantin Korovin, who also emigrated to Paris, and her father Valery Ganchikov.
She received her academic musical education as a pianist, theorist, and composer at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
She studied the latest technologies, programming, and sound synthesis at IRCAM / Centre Pompidou under the direction of Pierre Boulez, and then at the Technical University of Berlin.
She conducted research in the field of art history and art technologies first at the Sorbonne under the supervision of Manfred Kelkel, a renowned scholar of the work of the first Russian synesthete, Alexander Scriabin, then at EHESS (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales) and CNRS under the direction of Hugues Dufourt, where she obtained a diplome d'etudes approfondies (DEA), and then at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel.
She studied contemporary composition at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris (CNSMD de Paris) with Gérard Grisey and at IRCAM with Brian Ferneyhough. She also collaborated exten...