Elke Pollack | Contemporary Artist: Artworks & Biography

Elke grew up in Stalinstadt (Germany) in a family of musicians. From an early age she was passionate about the violin. She studied at the Dresden Conservatory and was a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Rostock National Theatre for 6 years.\n But she continued to seek for meaning in her life and a way of expressing her emotions. She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin and found what she was looking for in art. Although she traded her violin for brushes, she did not however lose touch with music. She moved to Berlin and became a freelance artist in 1996.\n Elke uses a mixed technique of collage, painting, charcoal and pencil. The lines are frank and characteristic of ‘Art Brut’ and Outsider Art.\n Humanity is at the center of her painting. Urban life and society are all subjects that give the artist the opportunity to bring the viewer into her world, a world in which every person is busy or contemplative in the face of passing time.\n The artist is interested in human individuality and social relations. Elke has developed her own metaphorical language and tells simple stories that have a deeper meaning behind them. The viewer identifies with these portraits and is led to a profound reflection on the meaning of life.\n Currently, Elke uses a very personal language to tell stories of human experience in an urban world. Many paintings depict figures riding down paths on bicycles to indicate the need to keep advancing and live life to its fullest. A young girl alone on a chair illustrates the loneliness of the individual in the world and her difficulty in finding her place in society. The characters in the center of the canvas encourage us to be actors in our own lives.\n Watching the teeming world around her, Elke likes to invites contemplation.