Outdoor

Elisa Niva

Philadelphia, PA

"Color field, soak- stain painter inspired by the energy of the natural world"

Lifelong nomad, Elisa Niva (b. 1993) is a designer and painter currently working out of Philadelphia. Elisa began her artistic journey as a fashion designer at URBN. Despite lacking the formal design education of her peers, Elisa was able to thrive, bringing a unique and unrestrained perspective to the table while continuing to expand her worldview through extensive travel. She was exposed to diverse expressions of art, design, and architecture; ranging from ancient to modern, found within small isolated communities and sprawling cities. Simultaneously, she became immersed in the volatile nature of consumer driven artistic production. Eventually, seeking to re-center her personal artistic vision, Elisa quit her corporate job, becoming a freelance designer and delving into her career as an artist. As a painter, she again lacks the traditional education many artists may tout, but instead brings to the table an incomparable first-hand knowledge of fabric and dye, design and proportion, culture and experience. Through her art, she seeks to represent the energies and emotions she has found woven through her travels, observing those of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds; the core of the universal human experience. Each painting has an individual journey, leaning into the beauty of happy accidents, organic flow, layering, and detrition. Elisa is continuously exploring unconventional ways of creating image, balancing bright colors with earthy neutrals, and following her intuition to create pieces that are entirely unique.