Elena Behrakis
Figurative abstract work that evokes the essence of complex human emotion, experience and condition through the raw excavation of paint.
Message
Elena Behrakis (b.1970; Lowell, MA. United States) is a Greek American visual artist who works primarily in oil, ink and Japanese watercolor. Her highly expressive figurative works are characterized by their rich texture, energy, and visible brushstrokes and marks. Elena’s style of painting is intuitive heightening the emotion in her pieces. The works are her direct relation to insulation, strength, invisibility, radiance, and vulnerability within the female experience. With an extensive training in classical figurative art from Boston University and Yale University’s Norfolk School of Art, Elena strives to grasp the essence of complex human emotions and physicality through color, light and gesture. She works in such a way that there is no opportunity to create a formula, as each mark is an unexpected reaction to her mind overflowing onto the surface.
After graduate school, Elena stepped away from creating art and spent many years building several businesses within the beauty industry, as well as expanding her family. Prior to her break, her work was shown in galleries and shows throughout parts of the United States. In 2024, Elena traveled back to her roots of artistic expression with an incredible urge to paint. Her mind was flooded with ideas, images, thoughts and ideologies. Shadows, landscapes, and figures started to emerge and dissolve into one another.
Late diagnoses in ADHD and Synesthesia play integral roles in the process of her work. The inquisitive, guttural, and instinctual ways she responds to each work allows for a pureness in thought and reaction. Repeatedly building up and then destroying each layer are integral parts of the journey and allows for an excavation of the tangibility of each piece as well as the human soul. Inspired by the Bay Area Figurative, Nabis, Neo-Expressionist and Brut Art movements, Elena’s work challenges to dissect and navigate towards poetic allusions, the Ancient Greek philosophy of Eudaimonia, and the raw human emotions that fluctuate between lightness, depth, playfulness and darkness.
Elena currently lives and works in Massachusetts. Her work can be seen in galleries across the United States.
EDUCATION
Boston University School for the Arts. Boston, MA.
- Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Painting
- 1994-1996
Boston University School for the Arts. Boston, MA.
- Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Painting
- Minor studies in Art History
- 1988-1992
Yale University Norfolk School of Art. Norfolk, CT.
- Summer 1991
EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS
National Juried Show, Newburyport Art Association, Newburyport, MA 2026
Glimmer, Cambridge Art Association, CAA @ University Place, Cambridge, MA 2026
200th Anniversary of Lowell Exhibition 2026, Whistler House Museum of Art, Lowell, MA 2026
Unexpurgated, Group Show, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY 2026
INT'L Paperworks 2026 Exhibition, Northwest Arts Center, Minot State University, Minot, ND 2026
The Persistence of Shadow, Group Show, Sims Contemporary Gallery, New York City, NY 2026
2025 Open-Themed Show, Las Laguna Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2026
Storied: Narrative Art, Juried Show, ArtLink Contemporary Gallery, Fort Wayne, IN 2026
Paradise, Juried Show, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL 2025
2025 Fay Chandler Merging Art Exhibition, Boston City Hall Galleries, Boston, MA 2025
2025 small works, BIG TALENT, Las Laguna, Art Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2025
2025 Small Works Show, 440 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY 2025
Art Under the Influence of Women, Vincent’s Gallery, Mansfield, MA 1996
Gallery '76 13th Annual National Juried Exhibit, Valley College, Wenatchee, MA 1996
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA 1996
New England-New Talent Exhibition, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI 1996
The Horizon, group exhibition, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL 1996
Small Works, group exhibition, George Sherman Union Gallery, Boston University, Boston, MA 1996
Young Talent Exhibition, group exhibition, Washington Art Association, Washington Depot, CT 1996
The Art of the Matter, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, MA 1996
2nd Year Graduate Painting Exhibition, Tsai Performance Center, Boston University, Boston, MA 1995
1st Year Graduate Painting Exhibition, George Fuller Building, Boston University, Boston, MA 1995
Juried Exhibition of Works, First Expressions Gallery, Boston, MA 1995
Three Person Exhibition, Harbor Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA 1994
Open Studios, Rugg Road Arts District, Allston, MA 1994
Cultural Continuum: Contemporary Expressions by Hellenic American Artists, Whistler House Museum, Lowell, MA 1992
PUBLICATIONS
Issue #7: New Art Project, Beyond Boundaries Within Art, 2026
Statement
My practice is rooted in the expressive and physical and yet I yearn to create a sense of serenity within the chaos; one that evokes the essence of complex human emotion, experience and condition. Through the raw excavation of paint, I am constantly wrestling with the dynamic struggle between radiance and darkness by using paint to draw and sculpt to find the work’s destiny.
Each piece and every series is a pure discovery which allows for an openness that helps me avoid falling into the traps of formula; for there is where my work begins to fray into a direction of tightness and control. This freedom allows for more discovery, energy and unpredictability. It also keeps me deeply engaged in the process. Boredom and the mundane are my enemies.
My traditional and formal art school training gave me the gift of knowledge into to the Bay Area Figurative, Nabis and Fauve movements which I am still deeply inspired by today. I am constantly absorbing ancient Greek Pottery, Neo-Expressionist Art, Brut Art and painters such as Soutine, Morandi, Dubuffet, Vuillard and Mitchell.
No matter how small or large my work, I aim to convey a deep intimacy and shared human experience by using a gestural, somewhat playful, and accessible approach while thoughtfully merging abstraction and figurative dialects. Late diagnoses in ADHD and Synesthesia play integral roles in my work process and language.