T A L A B O L I N A

Svetlana Talabolina is an Award-winning Artist And Muralist based in the Los Angeles area. She was born in Estonia during the Soviet Union era and has found inspiration from her travels throughout Europe and the United States. Although her work is a combination of the abstract and the figurative, it is at its core an examination of the human spirit and the raw emotions which guide her in her journey. Instead of painting a horizon, she paints the landscape within her soul. "Every painting is telling an emotional moment of a story", she says.

Svetlana's portrait of Frida Kahlo entitled "la Mujeur Que Pinto el Dolor" (The Woman Who Painted the Pain) is a monumental tribute to one of the world's greatest female painters and is in itself a spectacular work of art. Svetlana's work has been featured in Art Squat Magazine (she was also their Artist of the Year for 2021), Art Reveal Magazine (UK) and LA Downtown News, to name a few.

In addition to painting on canvases, Svetlana is also gaining notoriety as a Muralist. The cornerstone of her work so far is the 2022 piece "Inside of Time" at the Continental Building in DTLA, a gorgeous tribute to Matisse's 'Blue Nudes'. The mural, which stretches nearly 5 stories high, also features a massive clock from the perspective of someone looking out into the world and experiencing time differently. Teaming up with Kassa Home, a luxury boutique home styling and interior design company, has allowed Svetlana to bring her art to high-end homes all around Los Angeles.

Svetlana's love for art started when she was very young and was inspired by her mother, Tatyana. "When my sister and I were little, my mom used to paint fairy tale characters on the wallpaper in our room: Princesses, Mickey Mouse, etc. They were always as large as the entire wall, starting at the bottom of it, nearly reaching the ceiling."

By the age of 9 she was actively drawing faces and eyes. That is when she drew her first self-portrait. "I remember looking into a round-shaped mirror, seeing my face, but not actually seeing me; it was as if every line of my face was an individual entity, as a puzzle that I was putting together based on the image I was given. No fear - a pure connection between my hand and my vision."

But, not finding the inspiration she was looking for, Svetlana stopped drawing when she was around 16 years old. "I was no longer inspired, something was missing." So she began traveling, hoping to find new experiences to excite her mind and her soul. "I looked for the experiences, emotions, love, lust, break downs, highs and lows. In 2016 my life brought me back to my first love...Art." The world is her inspiration and all of the fascinating aspects of human nature. "When I see an artwork, which gives me an emotion, my eyes naturally capture the intricacies of the piece. I am always trying to break it down as a detective figuring out a crime scene, step by step putting the pieces together, wanting to know how it was created."

Being an extremely emotional creature, Svetlana is absolutely mesmerized by human nature, the whole of what we are: our physique, feelings, connections with one another, and the unique reasoning behind it all. "I live on raw emotions and strive to capture them with my brushes. I deeply enjoy exploring different subjects...but we, the people, remain my true obsession."
The universal themes found in her work are indeed a huge part of the draw to her work, and the raw, unfiltered way in which she paints those truths are what make her expressive artwork so captivating. "What you see in my artwork, is the tale of my story, but it is possibly your story as well."