Dorothy Circus Gallery London is pleased to present Still Garden, the new solo exhibition by Elen Bezhen(b. 1996), a figurative painter from the North Caucasus whose work explores the delicate dialogue between nature and humanity, with a particular focus on the feminine form.
In Still Garden, Bezhen invites the viewer into a delicate ecosystem where the stillness of nature mirrors the internal quietude of her human subjects. Moving beyond simple representation, the artist treats nature not merely as a backdrop, but as an autonomous character—a vessel of memory and a metaphor for resilience. In works such as Viscum Album (2025) and Evening Songs of Crickets (2025), the flora does not just surround the figures; it embraces them, blurring the lines between the skin of the subject and the texture of the living world.
Drawing inspiration from the masters of the Northern Renaissance, Bezhen utilises the visual language of the past to speak to contemporary reality. She creates "hybrid forms"—plants that appear scientifically accurate yet exist only within the ecosystem of her canvas. This illusion of documentary precision questions the elusive boundary between the natural and the constructed, highlighting human intervention in the organic world. Her subjects, often depicted with the solemn grace of a Bruegel or Van Eyck portraits, inhabit a space that feels simultaneously ancient and urgently modern.
For Bezhen, the act of painting is an act of meditation. Utilising a rigorous multilayered technique—beginning with grisaille underpainting and building up through numerous translucent glazes—she creates a surface density that feels alive. The result is a luminosity that seems to emanate from within the figures, contrasting sharply with the rich, earthy shadows of their garden sanctuaries.
The "Garden" in Bezhen’s work is more than a setting; it is a psychological state. The viewer can sense a profound silence in these works—a "pause" where the noise of the modern world falls away, leaving only the rhythm of growth and the gaze of the subject. Whether it is the intimate, domestic stillness of Teatime with Bruegel (2025) or the dense, verdant immersion of Lavatera Trimestris (2025), the artist captures a moment of suspended time. These are spaces of refuge, where the human figure is not performed for an audience but exists in a state of self-contained power and contemplation.
