About

My name is Elena Pach and I live and work in Chicago. I began drawing and painting as a child, growing up in a family of artists. The one-hundred-unit apartment building where I lived in Kyiv belonged to the Artists’ Union, and nearly all of my neighbors were painters, ceramicists, or art critics. As a child, I truly believed the world consisted only of artists.

At the age of ten I entered the Republican Art School in Kyiv, traveling across the city every day for classes. I later graduated from the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture in 1994. That same year I moved to the United States, looking for adventure and new experiences.

One of the central ideas in my work is the uniqueness of each individual, including myself. I believe real art creates an unmistakably personal world for every artist. For me, success is when someone encounters my work somewhere and immediately recognizes it as mine — because of its singular visual language.

My inspiration comes from mythology, Ukrainian folklore, ornament, and elements of popular culture. I do not feel that my artistic practice fundamentally changed after moving to America. I am still the same artist, sometimes even returning to sketches and themes I first explored more than thirty-five years ago.

Ukrainian culture and my personal experiences continue to shape my work. My “mental archive” is a collection of images, stories, and textures gathered from every place I have lived and everything I've seen.