About Vanessa
My practice consists of expressive, mixed-media paintings influenced by my immediate environment. My work addresses my relationship with nature and is informed by philosophical concepts around mark-making. Each painting is a constant pursuit of capturing the most hidden emotions and feelings of my surroundings at the time of making.
I use a range of colour combinations and qualities, opaque, transparent, and light and dark values, with careful yet free and expressive mark-making. Different densities of paint and opacities and exploration of mixed media in my process allow me to add layers of depth to my work, creating a rich tapestry of textures and marks that reflect these ideas and become a visual representation of my feelings at the time of making, capturing the essence of my emotional landscape.
As an artist, embracing the spontaneity that comes with working intuitively, and allowing each mark to tell a story of its own within a larger narrative, is important to me and my practice.
CV
Exhibitions
2023, Small Things Like These @ LHQ Gallery, Cork.
2023, Winter Exhibition @ Be Framed, Cork.
2023, Exchanges, a joint show by Vanessa Zelek and Áine Osborne @ DIVA, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.
2023, On Show 2023, IADT Graduate Exhibition @ Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire.
2023, Tooth @ DIVA, Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.
2023, In the Making: Milk, IADT student exhibition @ Pallas Projects &
Studios, Dublin.
2021, Dublin Art Book Fair 2021: Manual @ Temple Bar Gallery + Studios,
Dublin.
2020, The Place Project 2020, IADT student exhibition @ IMMA, Dublin.
2019, GSA Graduate Exhibition 2019 @ Periphery Space, Gorey.
Collections
2023, OPW, Office of Public Works Public Collection
2023, DLR, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Public Collection
Education
September 2019 - June 2023.
BA (Hons) in Art
IADT, Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.
September 2018 - June 2019.
QQI (Level 6) Advanced Portfolio Preparation
GSA, Gorey School of Art, Wexford.