Suhey Elias

Hi there!  I’m Suhey Elias. I’m a Altadena, California based painter and diorama artist, currently completing my education at Otis College of Art and Design for a BFA of fine arts with an emphasis in painting. Having to live in a reality where the existence of having a learning disability, losing a mother to cancer, and struggling with a low income is sometimes overwhelming, but these are the things that motivate me to be stronger and bolder when it comes to me living my artistic dreams, and completing my life’s goals. My work explores the importance of memory and family. Memories we make come in all different shapes and forms. Memories vary from cheerful, upsetting, strange, special, or amusing, but within these memories, vital lessons can be garnered. The combination of small family oil paintings and their handwritten recollections produce diorama-like worlds where even smaller three-dimensional miniatures exist, and it generates a change in the perceived sense of scale. Creating small installations offers me the opportunity to experience close and delicate intimacy with each of my pieces. With their size being eight by ten inches and even smaller, the amount of closeness they underwent is certainly highlighted through the amount of detail each piece contains. My hands were extremely present and worked endlessly on the finer details. From  individually rolling cut pieces of yarn into balls and hand gluing each piece individually to making sure I am satisfied with each brush stroke I produce. While I may go smaller in size, the key to making these elaborate paintings feel significant is their miniature viewers. Each world contains small-scale letters of the original sized letters next to them that contain a narration of the memory. Materials like illustration boards, canvas, clay, acrylic paint, fabric, yarn, cardboard, and paper bring these memories to life. Wood is the backbone and elevates these worlds to a whole other level.These diorama-like worlds have gotten me recognition from an array of different artists and they have given me the opportunity to sit down with many individuals (family, friends, or strangers) and collect many more memories to paint.