WELCOME

Elena Golberg was born in Barnaul, an industrial city in the Siberian part of Russia. At a young age, she attended an art school for gifted children, where she was strongly influenced by powerful, Russian realistic art traditions. Most of her classes were taught by talented, Soviet painters, who created a wonderful atmosphere in the learning process.

Elena earned her Fine Arts degree with a teaching license from a Soviet state university in 1989. Following her graduation, Elena taught art history, painting, drawing, composition, and sculpture for over 14 years.

Elena happily moved to the United States in 2004. In America, she became fascinated with Native American culture and painted many Native American portraits. Her works were displayed at the Scottsdale Salon of Fine Art in 2011, hosted by the Legacy Gallery. In 2019, she explored and transitioned to a new subject – Saguaro cacti. Since 2020, she permanently exhibits her work at the Marshall Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ.  

Today, Elena sketches enthusiastically in the Arizona desert. Where she fine-tunes the “movements” of the Saguaros’ muscular trunks and branches. She likes to catch the early morning light, which helps to portray the Saguaros’ strong expressions as they gesture toward the immense, Arizona sky.

Saguaro is one of the most interesting forms of life that intrigues people. From the distance, it looks like us, humans. From up close, it seems like a sunbeam or a dazzling sword of sunlight. For desert habitats, the saguaro becomes a bridge between the ground and the sky. An ant, crawling along the path of a cactus arm, soars with only saturated sky around. 

I found my love of painting saguaro cacti on a hiking trail in South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ. From the ground to the sky, they look majestic. I have been observing saguaro in different weather conditions. I was impressed by how they stood straight on a windy day. Tree trunks groan but still hold themselves up. I became interested in their support structure. How hard must it be to grow all the time only straight and balance a tower-shaped body in significant height? Nature leaves them with almost no flexibility. Any deviation from the direction of the sky is dangerous for their powerful bodies as it will result in a tilt caused by gravity. That is why saguaro branches after they emerge from the trunk, have to grow in a vertical direction as soon as possible. I got an idea to paint the fragment of a trunk or a branch, that expresses the whole plant’s character. These fragments hold the tension of the inner life and express incredible perseverance. Colored by the morning sun, with a static, bright contrast of light and shadow, the cacti are captured as an invigorating, optimistic snapshot. 

In my works, I try to convey the tenacity of life. This is why I use an abstract, geometrical manner of painting. The abstract method of art allows the artist to pass significant energy to the viewers. Through this style, there is the capacity for movement and freedom of interpretation. At the same time, I need the persuasiveness of realism to convey the characters that I met in the desert. It is the individuality of each composition - the cactus that brings it to life. I do not create these characters, I just reveal them by enhancing their geometrical anatomy. I believe that this type of dynamic composition perfectly satisfies the demand for contemporary interior design for bright, space-opening images.