Resume
Elena Samarsky is a Ukrainian-born, New Jersey-based self-taught artist whose vivid, gestural abstractions explore emotion, movement, and memory through layered textures and saturated color. With a background in academia, she began painting during her doctoral studies at Oxford and has since exhibited internationally. Her work reflects a cross-cultural sensibility shaped by time in Vienna, Berlin, London, and New York.
Rooted in the legacy of the Soviet avant-garde, Samarsky draws inspiration from the bold visual language of Malevich and the dreamlike lyricism of Chagall, as well as the atmospheric depth of Turner and the meditative stillness of Rothko. These influences inform her approach to abstraction, where color becomes more than aesthetic—it is a primary language, a visceral force through which internal landscapes are translated into form. Just as central to her process are silence, spaciousness, and the slow unfolding of presence—elements that lend her work its emotional resonance and contemplative power.
Samarsky has held group and solo exhibitions across the US and internationally in Spain. the UK, and Finland. She has been an artist-in-residence at Osage Arts Community, the Red Barn Studio, and others. Her work has appeared in literary journals, on book covers, and in publications. A current member of the Noyes and Monmouth Museums and the Monmouth Museum, her paintings continue to gain recognition for their expressive power and poetic depth.
Solo Exhibitions
2024 What’s lurking underneath the black lines. Noyes Museum of Arts of Stockton University. Shore Medical Center, Somers Point, NJ. USA
2023 Color in Me. Fork Hill. Union City, NJ, USA
2023 One Woman Show. Chanute Art Gallery, Chanute, Kansas, USA
2022 Life in a Lens of Abstraction. Osage Arts Gallery. Belle, Missouri, USA
2021 Pop-up Exhibition. Osage Arts Gallery. Belle, Missouri, USA
2020 Expression through Abstract. Centro Cultural William V. Musto, Union City, New Jersey, USA
2018 Magic in the Countryside. Hovinkartano International Arts and Cultural Centre, Finland
2018 Searching for the Immortal. Jesus College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Group Exhibitions
2024 Affordable Art Show. Art House Production. Jersey City, NJ, USA
2024 Members' Showcase. Nilson Gallery. Monmouth Museum. Lincroft, NJ, USA
2024 Hoboken Art Walking Tour. Neumann Leathers Open Studio. Hoboken, NJ, USA
2024 Noyes Artist Member Exhibition. Noyes Museum of Arts of Stockton University. Atlantic City, NJ, USA
2024 Flora, Fauna & Pink. The Art Alliance. Red Bank, NJ, USA
2024 The Spectacle of Sunrise and Sunset. BAC. Belmar Arts Center. Belmar, NJ, USA
2023 Noyes Artist Member Exhibition. Noyes Museum of Arts of Stockton University. Atlantic City, NJ, USA
2023 Rhythm Exhibition. BAC. Belmar Arts Center. Belmar, NJ, USA
2022 Hoboken Art Walking Tour. Hoboken City Hall, Hoboken, NJ, USA
2022 Women in Art. Chanute Art Gallery, Chanute, Kansas, USA
2022 Rebellion. Azur Galley, Madrid, Spain
2022 Kindness. The Kindness Studio, London, UK
2022 Eclipse. Azur Galley, Madrid, Spain
2021 Rotating Art Gallery. Union City, New Jersey, USA
2021 5th Annual Colors. Exhibition finalist. Fusion Art Online Juried Art Exhibition
2021 Abstract. Exhibition finalist. Grey Cube Gallery Online Juried Art Exhibition
2020 America. Centro Cultural William V. Musto, Union City, New Jersey, USA
2020 Transformative. Exhibition winner. HobokenArts, Hoboken, New Jersey, USA, Online Juried Art Exhibition
2019 4th Annual Landscapes Art Exhibition. Exhibition finalist. Fusion Art Online Juried Art Exhibition
2019 7th Annual Juried Photography Exhibition. Exhibition finalist. Arts Centre East, Vernon, USA
Awards/Distinctions
2023 “Sacrificial Lamb” chosen to represent the show on a Billboard of Noyes Museum of Arts of Stockton University, Atlantic City, NJ, USA
2020 Winner of the Juried Exhibition “Transformative Online Art Exhibit”, HobokenArts, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Artist-in-Residency
2025/2023 The Red Barn Studio, Lindsborg, Kansas, USA
2025/2021 Osage Arts Community Inc., Belle, Missouri, USA
2021 Sarasvati Creative Space Residency, Waynesboro, Tennessee, USA
2020 Azule, Hot Springs, North Carolina, USA
2018 Hovinkartano International Arts and Cultural Centre, Hauho, Finland
Publications/ Appearances in Magazines/ Books
2025 Radio interview: KMUW, Wichita, KS
https://www.kmuw.org/podcast/art-works/2025-02-24/why-artists-are-drawn-to-the-red-barn-in-lindsborg
2023 artCollective Magazine: Artist’s Interview:
https://artcollectivemagazine.com/2024/01/20/elena-samarsky/
2022 Paintings: ”Beauty and the Beast”, “Bouquet”. Anthology: Alien Buddha Loves You. Alien Buddha Press. USA
2022 Painting "Who's Crying at a Party". Alien Buddha Skips the Party Vol.2. Alien Buddha Press. USA
2021 “All Other Forms of Expression” Paintings and Poems by Elena Samarsky and Timothy Tarkelly, OAC Book Press, Missouri. USA
2018 “Art Exhibition in the College” Jesus College Arts Magazine, Michaelmas 2018. 2-3pp. Oxford, UK