SHELLY PAMENSKY
Location:
London, UK
ARTIST BIO
Shelly is a visual artist, raised in South Africa, of Israeli origin and now working from her studio in North London. She completed a Law degree in South Africa and is a self taught artist who turned her attention to painting after a career in the City of London, alongside having 3 children.
Her shimmering paired back colour field paintings explore a process of mixing unconventional materials together to create a surface where glitter, paint and pigment particles coalesce to incantatory effect.
Shelly has produced numerous commission pieces for private individuals and restaurants, collaborated with interior designers such as Kelly Hoppen. She has exhibited in group shows as well as in Art Fairs such as The Really Affordable Art Fair, Roys Art Fair and The Other Art Fair.
The artist currently works from her home studio in London, where she lives with her 3 children.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Shelly works with an innovative layering process, spraying veils of colour over a glitter and pigment primed ground. Paint and glitter particles bond to transform the surface into a bed of shimmering colour.
The artist is deeply connected to colour which is the cornerstone of her practice for its emotive qualities. Having moved from South Africa to London in her early twenties, she was struck by how a change in the light and colour intensity of her surroundings could impact her emotional state. The move was difficult but over time the desaturated London skies began to feel like home. Now she is often drawn to their muted colour palettes as inspiration for her paintings.
Shelly’s creative process instills in her an inner calm which she then shares by translating it into an aesthetic experience for the viewer. The delicate nature of the colours and subtle shifts in gradients convey peace and tranquility.
Some paintings are embellished with emojis. She plucks these out of the frenzied world of social media and screens and playfully applies them to tranquil surroundings where they remind of us of the joy of serenity.
Other paintings are deconstructed and then reconstructed into woven version of themselves. The act of cutting and weaving is a manual process, antithetical to the increasing digitisation of the art world.
‘I want my work to be an antidote to the freneticism of the world. The more you stare, the more you’re drawn in. Glitter has the effect of never quite standing still. The movement and colour blends lull you to a deeper sense of calm.”
Website: www.shellypamensky.com
IG: @shellypamensky
