Jelena Telecki’s paintings often depict people tripping, slipping, doing something pointless or simply just giving up. Painted in dark sombre tones, her subjects are frozen in their moment of thought and sometimes horror. Although Telecki’s paintings define an uncomfortable moment, there is a sense that perhaps something better might happen in the next moment to justify their feeling of inadequacy. Telecki explains: “It is difficult to define failure for various reasons as failure in one system may not be failure in another. Similarly in my work, the depiction of foolishness or pointlessness may not be all that it seems to be”.
Telecki was born in Split (Former Yugoslavia) and currently lives and works in Sydney. After initially studying at the National Art School she attained a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours 1 Class) and later a Master of Visual Arts from from Sydney College of the Arts (USyd). In Telecki’s relatively short yet successful career prior to joining the Gallery 9 stable in 2012 she held 12 solo shows in artist run spaces across Sydney and Melbourne. She has been a finalist in the Helen Lempriere Travelling Art Scholarship Exhibition and featured in ‘Critics Choice’ in the Australian Art Collector magazine.

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