Simona Finkelštein works as a stage designer, but in recent years, her life has been largely defined by motherhood. She takes pride in calling herself the joyful mother of three beautiful daughters, considering them her most significant masterpieces and primary sources of inspiration. The experience of motherhood, along with her daily life and family, lies at the heart of her creative process, shaping the subjects and emotions present in her art.
In her artistic practice, Simona weaves the beauty she discovers in everyday moments with a fondness for imperfection. She begins each painting by forming it within her imagination, carefully combining layers of color, shape, and texture in her mind. This mental composition continues until her vision is complete, at which point she is ready to bring the image to life on canvas. Her process is thoroughly introspective, as she seeks to infuse her work with gentle feelings and a sense of positivity.
The start of her creative process is often marked by sewing, using a mixture of materials that range from brand-new textiles with their distinctive scent to timeworn items like clothing and bed linens. These fabrics each hold their own stories, and by including them in her art, Simona grants them a new purpose. She sews, layers, and reshapes these materials—sometimes cutting and overlapping them—to craft distinctive surfaces and textures, essentially "painting" with fabric even before applying any paint at all.
After constructing these fabric collages, she stretches them over wooden frames, then treats them with gelatine or gesso before adding acrylic or oil paint. There are pieces in which she omits paint entirely, relying solely on the fabrics themselves as the means of expression. Simona hopes her paintings will evoke inspiration, calm, and joy for all who experience them, whether displayed in domestic, professional, or public environments. Her creativity seems inexhaustible, constantly replenished by her rich inner world and the beauty she observes around her.
About this artwork+
In the painting, an array of elongated, vertical forms dominate the canvas, almost resembling a dense forest of abstract trees or a collection of myriad paths stretching into the unknown. These forms are rendered in a rich variety of colors—blues, pinks, yellows, browns, and many shades of black and grey—interacting with each other to create a vibrant tapestry of lines. The colors are layered and textured, with certain areas appearing almost like they have been patched or mended, adding to the quilt-like appearance of the composition. The overall effect is both rhythmic and chaotic, as though each stripe tells its own story, yet contributes to a collective narrative, evoking a sense of multitude and diversity as suggested by the title "Thousand Paths." The painting invokes curiosity about the intersections and divergences of these paths, each line a potential journey with its own origins and destinations, encouraging a contemplation of choice, chance, and destiny.
