Figureworks
fine art of the human form

The Art of Elim Mak

Spirituality plays a pivotal role in Mak's life and she addresses it in her work with her own unique fusion of Eastern art motif and Western art technique. Her mixed medium paintings on paper are mainly inspired by Asian culture and Buddhist belief, an ironic contrast to her austere Chinese Christian upbringing in Canada. Vibrant patterning, Buddhist iconography, and the subject of Asian women and beauty are among the main elements in her work. Her beautifully rendered, decorative patterns and shapes resonate the gem-like detail of Chinese ornament design, Tibetan thangkas, and Japanese woodblock prints. Her evocative flair for the human figure stems from her background in fashion storyboarding and comic book illustration, and is evident in her
depiction of Buddhist deities.

She says of her work, "Painting is my meditation. I regard my paintings as objects of devotion, like precious jewels of enlightenment. A duality of the sensual and the sublime, they draw the viewer into a trance-like state of serenity, ever focusing inward."

Elim Mak is a first-generation Chinese-Canadian-American artist. She was born in Boston in 1969 into a Protestant minister's family. Her father's ministry took the family to numerous Canadian cities where there were few Chinese and she was educated in various private Mennonite Christian schools. She received her BFA degree in Painting & Drawing in 1992 at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. With her dual citizenship status, she moved to New York City the following year, lured by the city's culturally diverse energy. Mak’s successful art career now spans over a decade in fashion storyboard and comic book illustration, graphic design, and fine art painting.

The Lotus Flower, gouache/watercolor/ink, 10" x 8", $675.00

Four Season Beauties Series - Summer, gouache/watercolor/ink, 14" x 11", $850.00

MeditationMeditation, gouache/watercolor/ink, 9" x 12", $675.00
9" x 12"

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