* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
Over the course of years, Elaine Despins’ professional international career in animation (directing, character design and animating) has been interspersed with periods of intense passion for and activity in drawing and painting. Since 2000, she have been committed to an independent and full time studio practice. Despins’ paintings has been shown across Canada and her work can be found in private as well as public collections. She has received grants from both from the Canada Council for the Arts and the prestigious international Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant in recognition for her work. Elaine Despins completed her European, Berlin based, master’s degree in fine arts and new media arts in the summer of 2010.
Elaine explains her work by saying, “My work is rooted in an ontological perspective, a fascination for what is at the heart of existence. My background comes from the fine art tradition of painting. The painterly aesthetic present in my recently acquired video practice is in direct resonance with my paintings. My intuitive practice accompanied by an investigative gaze into the compelling mysterious ground of Being is what drives my work. I realize that to create work that invites awe and wonderment – at a time when the popular and approved styles of contemporary are are focused toward a strong cerebral discourse- can be perceived as a subversive act.”
