Featured Artist

Spring 2017

Helena Rakic

Helena Rakic is an artist and printmaker living in Toronto, Canada. She studied at Laval University specialising in lithography. After having graduated, she moved back to Hamilton where she printed at Centre3 print studio in various print media. She was selected for an artist residency at the Kala Art Institute in Berkley, CA, where she printed several lithographs, which were exhibited in Improbable Anatomy and The Magic Show at the Members Gallery at Centre 3 in Hamilton. Helena is currently a student at the Academy of Realist Art studying both drawing and painting in the traditional methods and is continuing her practise in printmaking at Open Studio.

Artist's Statement

I am and have always been interested in the use of traditional methods. I believe that it is essential to learn the fundamental techniques in order to have conceptual freedom when producing any form of art. My work reflects upon my perpetual affinity for precision. I try to create images that are the honest reflection of my surroundings. My work often contains the human figure, common objects or vegetation. It is always the subject that is placed in the foreground as I rarely ever integrate a background. It is this very emptiness that is void of distraction that allows for the figure to be the priority. The depleted background automatically creates a sense of isolation and solitude and forms an enigmatic presence. I see my drawings as simplified metaphors that portray relatable human emotions, which are shown in a surrealist light.