Mountaingee

Product Description

Mountaingee by Leila Ataya

19.69″ x 15.75″, 25.5″ x 21″ x 2″ with frame, Acrylic on Board

Current Exhibition at Flower Pepper Gallery: Ever Surreal from August 1st to September 1st, 2015

Previous Exhibitions at Flower Pepper Gallery:
- Xiong Mao from April 11th to May 12th, 2015
- 3rd Year Anniversary Show from December 6th, 2014 to January 6th, 2015
- Pandamonium from June 7th to 27th, 2014
- Of History And Hope from April 5th to May 2nd, 2014
- A Tribute To Our Own Fairy Tale from September 7th to October 4th, 2013
- Painted Sound from January 26th to February 28th, 2013

Artist Statement About This Piece:
“The Mountaingee – he is a magical hybrid between a cat and a mountain goat, but he is also a royalty as symbolized by the gold and jewels. He is a powerful and magical breed that can never be fully domesticated but if treated nicely by humans will always come back to check up on them. It’s hard to give a full account to his life as he is a very elusive creature that can sometimes just descend from the foggy mountain tops and then disappear just as mysteriously.” – Leila Ataya

Artist Biography:
Born in Moscow, Russia in 1979. From a very young age Leila’s life was strongly influenced by art. She started her art education in Russia and in 1996 immigrated with her family to New Zealand where she continued to study and practice art. Leila won a number of art awards and exhibited in a large number of personal and group shows in New Zealand, USA, Italy. Her works feature in many private collections in New Zealand, Australia, England, Italy, South Korea and Russia. She has established and run Art School since 2004 that provides art classes for Adults and Children.

Artist Statement:
“My works depict a magical world, where illusion and reality blur and painted objects have powerful narratives that create intimate relationships with the viewer and lead the onlooker on to make him/her create their own story.

There is a fine line between what we consider ‘reality’ and ‘fantasy’ and these paintings can transmit and entice the viewer in a surrealistic ambiguity through the narrative of the portrayed objects. Things like mechanical butterflies, chained birds, female like creatures, caged fish etc are all dwellers of this strange world that represents the timeless struggle of ‘Good’ and ‘Evil‘, it also ties the work with religious and iconographic imagery. Fruits also have a special part to play as they have always been looked at as more than just a source of food, constantly intertwined and tangled with religion, life, sex and many other aspects of life and human nature.

These paintings are filled with double meanings and symbolic hooks of the concepts within the subjects. The represented world is like a fly-agaric; so bright, attractive and beautiful but filled with poison. Perfectly finished beautiful and luxurious objects and dwellers that look so perfect and real that they’re almost fake in their perfection to entice and seduce the viewer into another world for a close inspection of the painted creation. Trompe l’oeil painting style (life-size illusions) helps to open up communication with a wider audience. It is a tool to lure the spectators to inspect painted details closely and by spending more time in front of it become immersed in its world and to be reminded of their own inner psychological struggles that might be hidden or secret.

There is no final understanding to the works, it is the creative process of the viewer engaging with the painting through narrative. The paintings create a visual story, where the painted surface becomes a mental playground, allowing the observer to swing from image to image and complete the final story with the use of their own intellect, sense of humour and imagination.”

Tertiary Education:
2009 – Post Graduate Diploma (PGDip) – Elam, School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand.
1998-2001 – Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) – Elam, School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Courses and Training:
1995 – Icon Writing (Palekh School).
1994 – Palekh (Lacquer Miniature), Vena Art School.
1993 – Drawing, Watercolour – Private tuition with practicing artists.

Awards:
2008 – The Mazda Awards 2008 – 2nd Runner Up
2008 – The Morpeth Canada 2008 Art Award – People’s Choice award
2007 – Waitakere Trust Art Awards – Popular Choice Award
2002 – The Nokia Art Awards – Asia Pacific 2001
2001 – Telecom Art Awards

Publications / Media:
Books
‘Pop Surrealism. What a Wonderfool World’ – Drago, 2010, (Italy)
‘ELAM Graduate Work’ – University of Auckland, 2008, (NZ)
‘New Zealand’s Favourite Artists’, Edited by Denis Robinson – Saint Publishing 2006, (NZ)

Magazines/TV/Newspapers:
2012 June 17 – Trud (Newspaper), (Bulgaria)
2012 May 10 – Atr News – Moda ed estetica femminile, Rai Art News, Italy
2012 April – Leila Ataya: Benvenuti Nel Mio Regno, Via Condotti Magazine, p28-29, (Italy)
2012 March 27 – Rome, Leila Ataya et une touche de sensualité pop surréaliste, BSC News, France
2011 April 26 – “El ‘espejismo’ de Esther Noriega eclipsa la Pasarela de la Moda de Castilla y Leon”, Heraldo, (Spain)
2011 March – “Leila Ataya”, BSC News Magazine, p 102-110, (France)
2011 Feb 28 – “An Exhibition on perfumes”, Vogue Italy – on line, (Italy)
2010 Aug 16 -“Artist of the week”, Public republic – online Art Journal, (Bulgaria) English / Bulgarian
2009 May 21 -“Viewers Create Their Own Story”, The Aucklander, p11, (NZ)
2008 Dec 09 – “Art Circus – Watch This Space”, Artists Alliance Art All #93, (NZ)
2008 Dec – The University of Auckland News magazine (Dec 2008) – cover, (NZ)
2008 Sep 25 – “Russian Pearl”, Otago Daily Times, p33, (NZ)
2008 Sep 25 – “Art Seen”, Otago Daily Times, p34, (NZ)
2008 Nov 06 – “Artists await our votes” Western Leader, (NZ)
2008 Nov – Ponsonby News, p93, (NZ)
2007 Nov – “Leila’s world is full of art” Western Leader, p4, (NZ)
2004 Sep – RTV Triangle Television, (NZ)
2004 Aug 06 – “Te Atatu has a prize-winner – Artist’s work on show”, Western Leader, (NZ)
2003 Dec – “Iconic Art”, NZ House and Garden magazine, p153-156, (NZ)
2003 Winter – Arts Chat and Scribbles magazine, p8, (NZ)
2002 Sep 17 – TV3 News, (NZ)
2002 March 15 – “Religious Art Nurtures Spirit”, Eastern Courier , (NZ)
2002 – Eye On The World catalogue, (Thailand)
2002 Jan – “Bald canvas” Metro Magazine, (NZ)
2001 – Telephone Book 2001(Auckland, New Zealand) – Cover, (NZ)
2001 Feb – “An Elam Painting in every home” The University of Auckland News magazine, cover, (NZ)
2000 Nov 29 – “Lone Pine Lives On”, Auckland City Harbour News, (NZ)
2000 Nov 24 – “Felled Icon Lives Again on Cover”, Central Leader, (NZ)
2000 Nov 22 – “One Tree Hill Artist”, Times Pinnacle, (NZ)
2000 Nov 21 – “Artist Locks Up Telecom Award”, Manukau Courier, (NZ)
2000 Nov 17 – “Telecom Books The Keys To Auckland”, National Business Review, (NZ)

New Interview for Ever Surreal with Luciano Martinez, editor of BloPop Magazine: http://www.blopopmagazine.com/featured-artist/leila-ataya/

Artist website: http://www.leilaataya.com/Welcome.html

Additional Information