Jelena Donko (b. 1985, Doboj, BiH) is an artist based in Graz, Austria. Her abstract and graphically nuanced paintings are primarily created with acrylic paint and plaster on stitched canvas or paper. Donko defines her approach as a combination of theoretical and visual research that reflects a practice between observation and conceptual imagination. Recognised for the distinctive use of the line as her primary subject within methodically arranged compositions, her works emit a juxtaposition between movement and geometric-like rigour.

At the core of Donko's artistic inquiry lies the exploration of physical and mathematical concepts, echoing a scientifically curious practice akin to Leonardo da Vinci, albeit in a more contemporary and abstract context. Recurring themes throughout her work include Einstein’s theory of general relativity, quantum mechanics and most profoundly the passage of time and entropy. The majority of her oeuvre is created in continuing sequences where preceding works inform later creations, as evident in her ongoing series “Entropy” and “Fractions of Probabilities”. Nestled between the traditions of conceptual art and minimalism, her paintings evolve through a process of simplification, contextualisation and blending of elements with each color, material, and texture purposefully chosen within a pre-stablished framework. With time visualised as a textured line and its geometrically composed flow derived from concepts such as spacetime or the probabilistic nature of particles, Donko’s paintings thematise a growing universe where the abstractness of scientific exploration keeps challenging human intuition of reality.

Jelena Donko received her Master of Arts in 2015 from the London College of Communication (University of Arts) in London, United Kingdom where she studied Illustration and Visual Media; as well as her Master of Science in 2009 from the Graz University of Technology in Graz, Austria where she studied Architecture. Her works are featured in national and international collections with selected mural commissions for interior spaces. Recent exhibitions include solo and group shows with Felix Höller Gallery in Vienna as well as representation at art fairs in Germany and Austria.