BIO
Elena Bulycheva (resides and works in Hamburg, Germany) is a contemporary painter who is best known for her abstract paintings, marked by an interplay of vivid color, texture, form, and irregularly shaped canvases. Unconventional processes derived from female labor—for instance, processing the canvas in a washing machine—result in cracks and crevices of paint from which the picture emerges, revealing the underlying color or surface, hinting at notions of negative space, iconoclasm, conservational issues, and a quip reference to the craquelé of old master painting. In her painterly process, Bulycheva transforms a smooth surface into a unique pattern of erosion, referring to the test of time but, most importantly, inspecting the fragility of her medium and approaching the canvas as a locus of social contexts and gendered values.
EDUCATION
2017-2024: HFBK Hamburg, MA in Fine Art (prof. Anselm Reyle), Hamburg, DE
2013-2017: Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia, BA in Video Art, Moscow, RU
2009-2011: British Higher School of Art and Design, Moscow, RU
2007: University of Arts, London, UK
2024 Galerie1965, 11.04.24-04.07. 2024
2024 THE SPACE 07.03.24 -11.05.24
2024 Painting Unlimited, K146 Gallery
2024 Annual Exhibition HFBK 2024
EXHIBITIONS
2024, Galerie 1965 (group exhibition), Hamburg, DE
THE SPACE (group exhibition), Hamburg, DE
Painting Unlimited (group exhibition), K146 Gallery, Hamburg, DE
Annual HFBK Show (group exhibition), Hamburg, DE
Fight & Care (group exhibition), K146 Gallery, Hamburg, DE
2023, Annual HFBK Show (group exhibition), Hamburg, DE
2022, New Washed Art (solo exhibition), Gallery Barlach Halle K, Hamburg, DE
Annual HFBK Show (group exhibition), Hamburg, DE
2021, Laundry Room (solo exhibition), Hamburg, DE
6th Ural Industrial Biennale of Contemporary Art (group exhibition), Ekaterinburg, RU
Annual HFBK Show (group exhibition), Hamburg, DE
2017, Große Wäsche Project (solo exhibition), Moscow Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, RU
8 Level (group exhibition), Center of Contemporary Art Winzavod, Moscow, RU
2016, Übermacht (group exhibition), Xpon-Art Galerie, Hamburg, DE
2015, ArtHotel (group exhibition), Hamburg, DE
2015, Big Wash (solo exhibition), Rodchenko Multimedia Art School, Moscow, RU
2014, Oxford International Art Fair (group exhibition), Oxford, UK
2013, CCA Fabrica (group exhibition), Multispace, Moscow, RU
GRANTS, STIPENDS & AWARDS
2019, Deutschlandstipendien, DE
2016, Deutsche-Russisches Kino-Festival KINOFAHEN (winner), Hamburg, DE
PUBLICATIONS & INTERVIEWS
“Fight & Care: Elena Bulycheva & Zixu Wang” in Contemporary Art Issue (2024)
“Elena Bulycheva macht kunst mit der Waschmachine” (Interview) in NDR Kultur (2020)
“Die Kunst von Elena Bulycheva hat sich gewaschen” (Interview) in Hamburger Abend blatt (2020)
“New Washed Art” (Interview) in Hamburg Woman (2020)
“Ubi Bene, Ibi Patria” (Documentary film) in Woman’s Immigration (2018)