Jelena Donko (b. 1985, Doboj, BiH) is an artist based in Graz, Austria. Her abstract and graphically nuanced paintings are primarily created with acrylic paint and plaster on stitched canvas or paper. Donko defines her approach as a combination of theoretical and visual research that reflects a practice between observation and conceptual imagination. Recognised for the distinctive use of the line as her primary subject within methodically arranged compositions, her works emit a juxtaposition between movement and geometric-like rigour.
Jelena Donko's paintings emerge from a conceptual abstraction of physical and mathematical concepts, most profoundly the flow of time and entropy.
At the core of Donko's artistic inquiry lies the exploration of physical and mathematical concepts, echoing a scientifically curious practice akin to Leonardo da Vinci, albeit in a more contemporary and abstract context. Recurring themes throughout her work include Einstein’s theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics and most profoundly the passage of time and entropy. The majority of her oeuvre is created in continuing sequences where preceding works inform later creations, as evident in her ongoing series “Entropy” and “Fractions of Probabilities”. Nestled between the traditions of conceptual art and minimalism, her paintings evolve through a process of simplification, contextualisation and blending of elements with each color, material, and texture purposefully chosen within a pre-stablished framework. With time visualised as a textured line and its geometrically composed flow derived from concepts such as spacetime or the probabilistic nature of particles, Donko’s paintings thematise a growing universe where the abstractness of scientific exploration keeps challenging human intuition of reality.
Jelena Donko received her Master of Arts in 2015 from the London College of Communication (University of Arts) in London, United Kingdom where she studied Illustration and Visual Media; as well as her Master of Science in 2009 from the Graz University of Technology in Graz, Austria where she studied Architecture. Her works are featured in national and international collections with selected mural commissions for interior spaces. Recent exhibitions include solo and group shows with Felix Höller Gallery in Vienna as well as representation at art fairs in Germany and Austria.
Education and Training:
2003 - 2007: BSc in Architecture, Graz University of Technology, Graz, AT
2007 - 2009: MSc in Architecture, Graz University of Technology, Graz, AT
2008: MSc in Architecture, Erasmus programme, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, ES
2009: MSc in Architecture, thesis research programme, University of Capetown, ZA
2014 - 2015: MA in Illustration & Visual Media, University of the Arts London, LCC, London, UK
Selected Exhibitions:
2023 Nebel (group exhibition), Felix Höller Gallery, Seewalchen at Attersee, AT
2023 Creative Night (group exhibition), FlareTalents, Graz, AT
2023 Discovery Art Fair, Felix Höller Gallery, Cologne, DE
2023 Art Fair at castle Kammer Attersee, Felix Höller Gallery, Schörfling at Attersee, AT
2023 We are Entropy (solo exhibition), Felix Höller Gallery, Vienna, AT
2022 O.S.D. 3 (solo exhibition), Graz, AT
2021 O.S.D. 2 (solo exhibition), Graz, AT
2020 In Situ Project Haussmannien (virtual group exhibition), global
2019 O.S.D. 1 (solo exhibition), Graz, AT
2018 Come To Line (solo exhibition), Creative Industries Styria, Graz, AT
2017 Line By Line (solo exhibition), Foound, Geneva, CH
Selected Press:
Kunst zwischen dem Sichtbaren und dem Unsichtbaren, Parnass Kunstmagazin, Issue 01. Vienna: 2023
Zimmermann, Katharina Maria. Von Atomen und Linien, The Weekender, Issue 32. Cologne: 2019
Selected Talks and Engagements:
2024 Guest lecturer, MA Communication, Media, Sound and Interaction Design, FH Joanneum, Graz, AT
2024 MA Communication, Media, Sound and Interaction Design (guest speaker), FH Joanneum, Graz, AT
2017 Ladies, Wine and Design (guest speaker), Creative Industries Styria, Graz, AT