Elena Coyiuto marks a turning point in her second exhibit ,‘ Transition’

Opening today at the Rockwell Power Plant Mall is Elena Tanyu Coyiuto’s second solo exhibition titled “Transition,” which is organized by Finale Art File. The show features her still lifes, figures, and abstracts. Marking a turning point in the development of her artistry, the artworks depart from her robust, highly saturated coloration to a more subdued palette, revealing the intricacy of depth and dark tonalities as well as visual narratives and counterpoints.

Taking inspiration from the Dutch and Impressionist masters, Elena composes her still lifes with an eye for an internal, vibrating unity, with the medley of the objects’ curvilinear shapes, which constitute what are considered to be classic in the language of still life: flowers, vases, lamps, books.

In her figures, “Motion and Emotion,” one senses a relaxation not only in terms of the handling of brush, but also of subject matter. Expressive in their gestures and dynamic in their postures, the stylized men and women are captured in the moment of having let go of the cares of the world, of having a good time.

“The logic behind the stylized effort,” Elena explains, “is to develop a heightened but controlled emotion as portrayed in the act of swaying or actions of bodily movement. The stylization in the forms is exaggerated and distorted beyond anatomical limits: bent head tilts, elbows and wrists are fully flexed, and the bodily position elongated or intimately close to create a single unit, which add to the intimate character.”

Elena’s abstracts, on the other hand, seems to combine the calmness of her still lifes and the dynamism of her figures — vortices, cubist constructions, rhythmic forms, webs of expanding lines. Brimming with gestural force, the pictorial surface vibrates with impasto, grids, netlike structures, furrows, and other elements in a state of creation and disintegration, as though the world of the painting is shifting right before the viewer’s eyes.

In “Transition,” Elena exhibits not only the dexterity of her touch and her evolving technique, but the resoluteness of her aims. Unafraid to venture from one subject matter to another, from one genre to another, the artist proves that the only thing that matters is being true to one’s vision.

“Transition” is on view until Aug. 6. For details, call Finale Art File at 813-2310.

Elena Tanyu Coyiuto’s art is characterized by art critic Cid Reyes as “an a rmation of the artist presenting a bounty of works that live up to the definition of exuberance: abounding in vigor, high spirits and vitality.”